Hay or silage? Comparing forage cost per kg of dry matter
Compare hay and silage by turning the purchase price into cost per kilogram of usable dry matter. Silage is 65 to 70 percent water, so a tonne gives you roughly 320 kg of dry matter, while a tonne of dry hay gives about 880 kg. Work out dry matter costs in HerdMobile and choose the forage that pays.
Compiled from open-access scientific sources.
Why compare forage prices on a dry matter basis?
Buying forage by the as-fed tonne misleads the budget, because water content varies hugely between crops. Good grass or alfalfa hay is about 88 percent dry matter and 12 percent moisture, while corn or grass silage is usually 30 to 35 percent dry matter and 65 to 70 percent water. Only the cost per kilogram of dry matter shows what a forage is really worth, because animals live on the dry matter, not the water. For example, corn silage at 75 dollars per as-fed tonne with 32 percent dry matter costs 234 dollars per tonne of dry matter. Alfalfa hay at 220 dollars per tonne with 88 percent dry matter costs 250 dollars per tonne of dry matter.
How do harvest and storage losses change the real cost of forage?
Add storage losses to your forage sums to see the true feeding cost. Hay kept in a covered barn typically loses four to seven percent of its dry matter in storage. Clamp silage, by contrast, loses twelve to eighteen percent through fermentation, effluent and spoilage at the face. Well-packed, tightly sealed silage keeps spoilage low and holds on to its energy. Build these losses into your purchase budget: when ten percent of the clamp spoils at the face, each usable kilogram costs roughly eleven percent more before it ever reaches the feed trough.
How does HerdMobile help you choose between hay and silage?
Enter your own forage analysis in the HerdMobile feed library, with dry matter, crude protein and fibre (NDF), along with the price you pay per tonne. The ration calculator works on a dry matter basis, so hay and silage are compared fairly. Try different mixes to see how swapping some hay for silage changes the daily feed cost per cow, or let HerdMobile find the cheapest ration that still meets the cows' needs. Record forage deliveries and invoices as feed purchases and expenses. With nutrient values and real prices side by side, you buy forage with confidence, even offline.
Questions from the farm
How do you convert an as-fed forage price to dry matter cost?
Divide the as-fed price per kilogram by the dry matter content written as a decimal; the result is the real cost per kilogram of dry matter.
How much does moisture differ between hay and silage?
Dry hay holds 10 to 15 percent moisture, while well-made silage holds 65 to 70 percent.
How does HerdMobile help when you buy forage?
HerdMobile works every ration out on a dry matter basis and shows the daily cost per head, so you see which forage makes the cheaper ration.
How HerdMobile helps
Bring your animals, feed stocks and farm accounts together on your Android phone. HerdMobile keeps your daily work moving offline: record events, compare feed quantities and follow sales and payments in one place. Use your own feeds and herd information to prepare a ration, then keep a backup file under your control.
