The Economics of Silage Making

The Business of Dairy

Apr 30 2023 • 33 mins

Silage is used to varying degrees and in different ways on NSW and Australian dairy farms, depending on the type of feeding system the farm has. It can be an important component of your herd’s diet and given that producing it comes with additional costs compared to directly grazed pasture, it is important to make sure you do it well to make it economical.

My guest this month is Neil Griffiths, a well-known agronomist who worked for many years with the NSW Dept of Primary Industries as a Pasture Production Technical Specialist and has been heavily involved with the development and delivery of the nationally recognised TopFodder program which aims to develop your skills in successful silage making, storing and feeding. In this episode we discuss some of the key areas that drive profitable silage making.

Useful resources related to this podcast:

Register for Hunter Local Land Services 3 day TopFodder workshop with Neil Griffiths (starts 29/05/2023)

Wrapping Your Own Silage: The Hidden Costs of Owning and Operating Machinery (extensionAus article by Sam Henty includes worksheet and example)

NSW DPI Guide to Machinery Costs and Contract Rates (PrimeFact 2009)

Dairy Australia - Making Silage

This podcast is an initiative of the NSW DPI Dairy Business Advisory Unit

It is brought to you in partnership the Hunter Local Land Services

Please share this podcast with your fellow farmers and colleagues and feel free to contact us with suggestions or comments via this email address thebusinessofdairy@gmail.com

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NSW DPI Dairy Facebook page

DPI Intensive Livestock Twitter feed

NSW DPI Dairy Newsletter

Transcript here

Produced by Video Lift

The information discussed in this podcast are for informative and educational purposes only and do not constitute advice.