Feeding maize silage helps optimise pasture utilisation by maintaining ryegrass in its most productive growth phase and helps to avoid overgrazing.
It also supports pasture renovation, allowing farmers to smooth the soil surface, break compaction layers and reduce weed and insect pressure for higher future yields.
During wet conditions, maize silage combined with stand-off areas can reduce pugging damage and preserve pasture quality.
Its consistent quality and long shelf-life, when properly stored, makes it a reliable feed source year-round that can help stabilise the variability of pasture yield and quality.
From a sustainability perspective, maize silage contributes to the dairy industry’s 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 30 per cent.
It has around double the nitrogen use efficiency of a ryegrass pasture, converting the same amount of nitrogen into more feed, and cows fed diets containing maize silage have a lower urinary nitrogen output compared to those fed high-protein, pasture based diets.
Pioneer maize silage offers high dry matter yields, up to 30 tonne/DM/ha under ideal conditions, making it one of the most cost-effective feeds available.
Its efficiency extends to water use, with trials showing yields of 5 tonne/DM/Ml, outperforming perennial pastures fivefold.
Whether grown on-farm or sourced from contractors, maize silage offers flexibility, consistency and performance.
Pioneer’s dairy specialists Greg and Leighton are available to help farmers tailor maize silage strategies to their unique systems.
Improving pastures is just one of the benefits of maize for silage. To learn more, visit https://www.pioneerseeds.com.au/contact
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