Farm own-produced feedstuffs/Silage

Feedstuffs produced by farmers themselves for use in their own farms can be tested and analyzed at LUFA Nord-West.

Own-produce feedstuffs include grass and maize silage, hay, corn-cob mix silage (CCM) and grain. The nutritional value of the produce is of particular interest for the farmers. Only when this is known, can the farmer get the portions right. This also has impact on the choice and quantity of supplementary feedstuffs which require purchasing from external sources.

The most-used analysis for own-produce feedstuffs is near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), which is especially suitable for large batches of samples: the more batches per analysis, the more cost-effective. This analysis is also very fast and does not burden the environment with the use of chemicals. The samples require drying and the dry substances provide absolute reference values. Typically, hay, grass and maize silage is tested for metabolisable energy (ME) in feedstuffs for dairy cows and beef/veal cattle. Other feedstuffs, CCM, barley, rye, wheat and triticale are typically tested for metabolisable energy in feedstuffs for swine.

In addition to the determination of energy content, wet-chemical methods are often employed to determine other parameters required for respective nutritional optimums. These parameters include:

• Analyses to determine minerals, trace elements, DCAB values, pure protein, carotene and nitrates.
• Analyses to determine fermentation quality
• Analyses to determine microbiological quality
• Analyses to determine mycotoxin levels

Further analyses are available for fresh grass, whole-plant silage and total mixed ration (TMR) silage.

We provide test orders for own-produce feedstuffs as well as free-of-charge pick-up service for collecting the samples.