The best forage
The basis for your success
The best forage always pays – for farmers as well as contractors. Focusing on the highest quality forage also helps contractors and forage dealers maintain excellent relations with existing customers and win new ones.
Achieving the best forage begins long before harvesting. A healthy, high-energy and well-balanced crop is essential. The cutting time is crucial for obtaining full energy levels from it. Once the grass has been mown it begins to respire and lose energy. The longer it is left unattended, the less energy the forage contains. The aim, therefore, is short wilting times and optimum dry matter content in order to achieve the best quality forage. If the forage is too dry, ensiling will not be ideal, and if it is too wet a lot of energy will be lost through fermentation.
By maintaining sufficient stubble height and using PÖTTINGER agricultural technology to avoid contamination, you will harvest forage of the highest possible quality.
For your customers
As a contractor your task is to harvest the best forage on behalf of your customer in a brief period of time. If you want the customer to remain with you in future you must ensure his long-term satisfaction. The success of a farmer’s business depends on the quality of the forage you collect for him. If the farmer cannot fully exploit the potential yield of his herd he is likely to withdraw his custom and entrust the work to another contractor. That gives you sufficient reason to do everything possible from the outset to keep the customer satisfied. PÖTTINGER agricultural technology provides the ideal basis for this because it ensures optimum ground tracking and consequently minimal dirt ingress. It is designed for maximum crop protection and highest output. This is doubly important because the best forage has only a short wilting period and you are already due at your next customer.
For your livestock
As a farmer, you know: High yield livestock need a high quality basic ration. Ruminants are fussy about their forage. The quality of the basic ration they are given, in other words its energy content, digestibility, odour and taste, determines whether your animals consume large amounts of it. What they like most is basic ration that is clean and tasty. The amount of concentrates used can be reduced. This cuts forage costs while at the same time improving animal health. Healthy livestock reward you with higher fertility, a longer useful life and, crucially, higher milk and meat yields. The bottom line is that you benefit from clean, high quality forage with more profit generating from your farm business.
Don't feed your animals crude ash!
“There are many reasons why high crude ash content prevents cost effective milk production. Best basic ration is required if cows are to remain healthy, fertile and produce a lot of milk. The basic ration should contain as little earth and sand as possible. These contaminants, shown as “crude ash” in feed composition analysis, cause undesirable side effects. The function of the reticulum-rumen system is reduced. Organisms that affect the ensiling process, such as clostridium, can be brought in. The yield ability, health and fertility of dairy cows suffers as a result.”
Dr. Michael Neumayer Veterinarian Neukirchen am Großvenediger | Austria