Authors: Savoie, P., Blais, Y. And D. Desilets
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Published in: CBE Journal » CBE Journal Volume 28 (1986)

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Description: Dry matter and nutritive losses during forage harvest and storage can be considerable. Several researchers have estimated field losses due to mechanical fragmentation, cellular respiration and weathering to be on the average 5-6% per day of curing for alfalfa, and 3-4% per day for grasses (Shepherd et al. 1954 Cabon 1982 Rees 1982). Storage losses can be as high as 10-20% especially with wet silage or with hay stored outside (Kjelgaard 1979). In addition to quantitative losses, there are generally some qualitative losses in the form of reduced protein and energy concentrations. Indeed most of the material losses are from the nutrient-rich parts of the crop, namely leaves and soluble nutrients which are leached from the stems and from the leaves. A reduction of these losses would mean that less land is needed to produce the same amount of forage and less supplements are purchased to balance rations for ruminants. As long as the cost of land and the cost of supplements (especially corn and soybean meal) are low, there is little incentive to improve forage conservation. In the long run though, we might expect land and feed prices to increase substantially such circumstances would justify the conservation of a greater quantity of higher quality forage per unit area.

Keywords: feasibility of direct-cut forage conservation in quebec
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Citation: Savoie, P., Blais, Y. and D. Desilets 1986. FEASIBILITY OF DIRECT-CUT FORAGE CONSERVATION IN Quebec. Canadian Agricultural Engineering 28(1):31-34.
Volume: 28
Issue: 1
Pages 31 - 34
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Date: 1986
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Coverage: Canada
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