Forage conservation and management Phyllis Ndung’u, Peter Kirui and Linus Kiprotich International Livestock Research Institute 1. Importance of fodder conservation The importance of fodder conservation is to capture the nutrients in grass in a storable form to make them available as a forage feed in the dry season. Feed can be conserved as hay or silage. Source: learn.e-elimo.org Farmers’ workshop: 5th-10th February, 2018 Nandi and Bomet counties 4 Silage making – sweetpotato vines To make an improved plastic tube silo you will need: 4 cm PVC drainage pipe 2.5 m of 1000 gauge silage tubing 2.3 m of flexible rubber tubing One 4 cm plastic tap 7 m of sisal twine 3 wooden poles (can be cut locally), at least 1.2 m in length and 5 cm in diameter Fabricated drum 10 kg of molasses 30 liters of water 375 kg of fresh vines and 175 kg of fresh storage roots or Napier grass or similar to make 500 kg silage 2. Hay making Timing: harvest hay at early flowering Mowing Tedding Drying : let the grass dry for 3 days Raking: rake after 2 days to allow for even drying. Baling: you can use a manual hay bailer Storing: should be store in a cool dry place away from rodent and termites as well as leaking roofs Stages Proper wilting needs to be done for sweetpotato vines Compaction of the vines is necessary to expel as much air as possible. Compact as you add molasses every 30 cm. Store the silage under a shade and place some weight on top of it. 3. Determining good silage quality Well-prepared silage is bright or light yellow-green in colour, has a strong smell similar to that of fermented milk and a firm texture. Poor quality silage tends to smell similar to rancid butter or ammonia. 1 2 Assembling the internal drainage system for the silage tube 5 5 6 7 4 3 Silage can also be made from maize stalks at ‘milk stage’ and Napier grass (1 m tall and chopped to 2 cm) ILRI thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund Phyllis Ndung’u Mazingira Centre, International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709-00100 Nairobi, Kenya. This project was funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development. This document is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. July 2018