The silage journey for the Hofmans

Gippsland, VIC dairy farmers, John and Esther Hofman, have travelled the full journey of silage production, moving from baled to bulk pasture silage and now bulk maize silage over the past two years.

This ambitious couple milk about 260 spring calving Holstein and crossbred cows on 100 ha of leased land on the northern outskirts of Fish Creek.

“We are quite limited here by the size of the property and facilities, so we are always thinking about different ways we can do better, particularly nutrition,” John says.

“I realised that I could play it safe feeding 5 or 6 kg/day, along with pastures and silage, and get 540 kg MS each year or feed more and really push production.

“Now we’re feeding 9.5 kg/day without any impact on pasture consumption.

“The stuff in the paddock is always Number 1.

“We’ve found the better we feed them, the more they eat and that extra energy is going straight into improved milk production and body condition.”

The cereal-corn-canola mash now contains LEVUCELL SC probiotic.

This is complemented by about 4 kg DM of maize silage on the feedpad and 12–13 kg DM/day of pastures.

The program has increased average production by 25% to an impressive 680 kg milk solids at the end of 2023 season.

“Our cows are as close to being as fully fed as they can be,” John says.

The Hofmans introduced bulk pasture silage and maize silage to the program last season.

“Until last year, we’d generally make 500 or 600 bales of pasture silage and feed it out in the paddock,” John says.

“I’d cut all the grass and get a contractor to rake, bale and wrap it.

“Five years ago, I said I would never do bulk silage but 100 acres of adjoining land came up for sale 2 years ago.

“It meant we could grow, cut and pack a lot of silage at once, so pit silage was now an economic option.

“Plus, we’d always wanted to fit maize into our system and now we had the land to do it.

“We have difficult autumns in the past and we often have to buy in a lot of hay.

“Maize silage is far better quality feed than hay and it’s cheaper – you can’t even buy poor quality hay for $300/tonne this season.”

Last spring, about 60 ha of pasture was harvested by Meeniyan-based contractor, Matt Smedley from DCB Rural Contracting.

“That pit silage was the best silage we’ve every grown,” John says.

“It was cut at the right time, even a bit earlier than usual.”

Harvested forage was treated with MAGNIVA Classic forage inoculant during processing.

MAGNIVA Classic two strain-specific lactic acid-producing bacteria, Pediococcus pentosaceus NCIMB 12455 and Lactobacillus plantarum CNCM MA 18/5U specially selected for ensiling pasture species.
The stack was then covered with SiloStop oxygen barrier film to limit the growth of spoilage-causing yeasts and moulds.

Independent testing has confirmed these multi-layer polyethylene films are up to 100 times more effective than conventional plastic in preventing the entry of oxygen into silage.

The 45 micron film is protected by an outer layer of SilageKeeper UV covers, a dense polyethylene mesh that provides additional protection against sunlight and potential damage caused by animals and the environment.

The two layers are sealed with SealKeeper gravel bags, a re-useable and environmentally-friendly alternative to car tyres.

“We never even considered using tyres,” John says.

“Moving tyres around is a hard job – they’re heavy, they’re wet and they’re full of spiders.
“The stack took 20 minutes to cover using the bags.

A 12 ha maize crop was planted using a strip cultivator last November by Yarrambased silage contractors, Wayne and Hayden Bowden.

“There was a bit of stress getting it planted on time,” John says.

“We had a very wet winter so we a very limited window to harvest our pasture silage before planting the maize.

“We got a lot of rain just after it sprouted but then it warmed up, and off it went.”

The crop yielded just under 18 t/ha when harvested in March.

Harvested forage was treated with MAGNIVA Platinum forage inoculant during processing.

It combines a patented strain-specific bacterium, Lentilactobacillus hilgardii CNCM I-4785, with the industry standard, Lentilactobacillus buchneri NCIMB 40788.

This unique combination provides fast acting ‘front end’ fermentation with proven ‘back end’ aerobic stability, allowing silage to be opened earlier and last longer after opening.

MAGNIVA Platinum also contains a number of special enzymes to assist with rapid fermentation.
It was sealed in the same way.

“We were very happy with the outcome,” John says.

“We spent about $65,000 to produce 230 tonnes DM of silage, which equates to about $280/t DM as-fed.

“This compares to about $450/t for grain.”

The silage has had an obvious impact on production.

“We’re just at the tail end of calving and our production is already higher than last year’s peak,” John says.

“Our cows are producing 35.5 L/day and– and we’ve still got another six weeks until peak production.

“Plus there’s been a noticeable improvement in body condition.”

The silage is fed out into a feed pad the Hofmans had constructed in Autumn 2020.

“People who say you need 500 cows to make bulk silage work are wrong,” John says.

“Our biggest investment was a 13-tonne Giltrap feed wagon and a silage grab, about $95,000 all up.

“We were feeding eight or nine rolls a day, so that’s two to three one-hour trips – one to two in the morning and one in the afternoon.

“Feeding out really eats into your day.

“The wagon can load and feed out the same amount in half an hour to an hour.

“Then there’s all of that plastic.”

This year, the Hofmans hope to produce about 250 tonnes of pasture silage and 180 tonnes of maize silage.

“We always want to have a bank of at least 150 tonnes of bulk silage in front of us.

“With our bulk silage, we can keep it for up to five years whereas bales don’t last more than a year.”

John and Esther are aiming to purchase the property within two years, though they admit a lot has to go favourably in the next 2 seasons to make that a reality.

“We have put a lot into this farm in terms of fencing, laneways, feeding system in the dairy and the troughs.

John grew up on a dairy farm in South Gippsland and worked off-farm for more than a decade before returning to agriculture.

“I knew always wanted to be a dairy farmer but dad said I should get a trade first,” he says.

“Esther and I started as sharefarmers under a 50/50 arrangement at Middle Tarwin in June 2014.

“Just over 5 years ago, we progressed to leasing this block at Fish Creek.

“We had to get the fish creek farm firing as soon as possible, so we resowed half of the property to perennial ryegrass prior to starting.

“We have since resown the rest of the place and paid off all the cows.

“It took two years to get to know the farm.

“You have to get your pasture management right first.”