Animals/Livestock/Pets

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Forage Conservation ~ by Moran, John Description Every year Australian farmers conserve 1.5 million hectares of pasture and forage crops in the form of hay or silage. There is an enormous range in the quality of these conserved forages, reflecting an equally wide range of fodder conservation skills. While high quality hay and silage can lead to good yields of milk, meat and other animal products, poor quality hay and silage will not even maintain the liveweight of livestock and may even kill the stock. Forage Conservation provides information on the many aspects of fodder conservation, particularly its integration into livestock grazing systems. First it outlines the basic principles of ruminants digestion and pasture and crop growth. Then hay and silage making are described in detail. There are also chapters on forage maize and lucerne, both of which are becoming more important to cattle producers in Australia. The final chapters discuss the role of conserved forages in cattle diets, their costings and likely returns when used to improve existing levels of animal performance. Contents 1. Introduction 2. The principles of ruminant digestion 3. The principles of pasture and crop growth 4. The hay making process 5. Hay machinery and storage facilities 6. The silage making process 7. Silage machinery and storage facilities 8. Feeding out conserved forages 9. Forage maize as a livestock feed 10. Lucerne hay and silage as livestock feeds 11. Conserved forages in cattle diets 12. Integrating forage conservation into livestock grazing systems 13. Economics of forage conservation