What bunker cover alternatives provide protection for silage?
A variety of materials has been used on farms as an alternative to plastic covers. Some of these materials have been researched to study their effectiveness at preventing silage from spoiling. Producers often judge effectiveness by the depth of the spoilage layer (blackened forage) and the convenience of using an alternative cover. Extreme caution should be used when considering other producer’s claims of alternative cover performance. Most producers don’t understand that one inch of black forage may have been 2-3 inches of green, high quality feed when placed into storage. This represents a 50-65% loss of dry matter. They also don’t understand there is a transition zone (1-2 feet) of brown-gray forage below the black layer where a substantial amount (20-30%) of dry matter loss occurs. Research has shown that covering silage with ground limestone or soil may provide some silage protection compared to no cover at all. However, unless a cover excludes air and water, it does not compare v
