Learning from experts! Consistent Silage Feeding Boosts Ruminants Growth

One of the most important lessons that I learned as a farmer raising goats came from a former OFW who managed a 50,000-head Wagyu feedlot in Australia for 11 years.
Arnel Corpuz, an Ilocano born and raised in General Santos City who started working as feedlot helper and later moved to Australia where he earned so much experience in ruminants fattening, radically changed my understanding of ruminants nutrition.
I was one of those goat farmers who believed in the “Salad” feeding concept where on a daily basis, goats were fed with different kind of leaves of leguminous plants.
Trichantera, Rensonii, Napier and others, including Ipil-ipil and Kakawate, were some of the fresh forage materials which I fed to my goats.
The periodic change in the forage, however, seemed to upset my goats’ rumen as they would oftentimes have wet manure.
I met Arnel in 2015 when he joined the volunteers for the Presidential bid of then Mayor Rudy Duterte and that was when the education on proper ruminants feed and nutrition started.
Consistency in feeding, he said, is the key in attaining ideal health for the ruminants.
Whether the farmer chooses Silage feeding or green forage, the daily diet must be consistent.
“Hindi puede pabago-bago kasi maapektuhan ang mga microbes sa rumen ng baka o kanding,” he said.
So, in my case, I use Sorghum Silage consistently in feeding my goats which I fortify with molasses, salt, powdered seaweeds and ruminants feed mix.
“You could change your feeds but there must be a transition period from the old diet to the new feed material,” Arnel said.
This means that if I want to shift from Silage to fresh forage, I have to go through a 6-day transition where I introduce 25% of the new feeds on the first two days, 50-50% on the second. two days and 75% of the new feeds on the third two days.
The transition would be 100% after that and it will ensure that the microbes in the rumen. which process the raw materials into nutrients would not be affected.
So, the rule is: It does not matter what you feed – Silage, forage or commercial feeds – because what is important is that you consistently feed your ruminants with the same diet everyday.

#farmingisendlesslearning!