Grass silage in dairy cattle systems in northern Massif Central (Puy-de-Dome)

摘要

Grass is the main forage resource of dairy farms in Puy-de-Dome. Allowing for climatic constraints, the quality of the winter diet could be improved by the use of grass silage, with the best possible quality obtainable at a reasoned cost. Such a silage is made from grass superficially dried at 25-30% dry matter, with incorporation of an additive. The harvesting operations are constrained by the small number of available days in spring and by the frequently limited output of mowing. Lastly, as the harvesting equipment becomes increasingly expensive, more and more CUMAs (mutual utilization of farm machines companies) tend to consider new ways of organizing the harvest operations and even new methods of harvesting.