Bulk silage beefs up small beef enterprise

Somerset region beef producer, Matt Pulsford, has doubled the productivity and efficiency of his family’s beef enterprise by adopting bulk silage. Together with wife, Rachel, and their four children, Matt runs 200 breeders on their 200 ha irrigated property, ‘Hampstead’, outside Toogoolawah, Queensland.

Matt also breeds bulls in conjunction with Taroom-based stud, Huntington Charbrays, with their sale bulls being presented at Toogoolawah Showgrounds each August.

Matt’s primary motivation for adopting bulk silage was to make better use of his land, particularly the 120 ha sown to irrigated barley and oats each year in rotation with lucerne pastures.

“Our pastures have high protein content between December and February but then the nutritional value starts to drop off, even if the volume is still there – and that affects the condition of our cattle,” Matt says.

“We can bring them onto the pens in say, March, before the pasture fades and they start messing up the paddocks. We can put a hay crop on it that we can sell and that off-sets what we’re spending on feeding and effort.

“Providing a total mixed ration provides an all-round diet for our cattle and it’s just a healthier product. You can feed them to their requirements, not what’s in the paddock.”

Protecting the operation from the effects of drought was another motivation. “The whole concept of silage is to ‘drought proof’ your farm,” Matt says.

“There is definitely a role for baled silage but if the plastic doesn’t last, you’re not drought-proofing your property. If bales last two years, you’re doing well. Bulk silage gives you the flexibility buy in cattle and background them or save the feed as a back-up for drought.”

Matt engaged Lallemand Animal Nutrition Technical Services Manager, Jordan Minniecon, about three years ago. “Jordan came over and had a poke around my baled silage,” he says.

“He pulled some of the bales apart with his knife, stuck his hand in and said, ‘Mate, this is rubbish’. I wasn’t offended because I knew it was true. He put me onto a contractor and that’s how we got started.”

Matt produced his first stack of bulk sorghum silage in 2023. A further 1100 tonnes of bulk sorghum silage was cut and packed by Goomburra-based contractor, Superior Silage, last year.

Harvested forage was treated with MAGNIVA Platinum forage inoculant, a unique combination of bacteria that promotes rapid ‘front end’ fermentation and ‘back end’ aerobic stability. In effect, it allows silage to be opened earlier and last longer after opening.

“Knowing what the inoculant the contractors are using gives me confidence that the final product will be high quality and last,” Matt says. “I have been gobsmacked with the result.

“It smells fantastic and there’s no spoilage or wastage. I don’t know how you can make it any better. We used to get a lot of spoilage within the bales and then a whole lot more got wasted in the paddocks.

“With bulk, I thought we’d lose an inch or two on the bottom of the stack but that wasn’t the case and now that we have concrete troughs, wastage is close to zero. The cattle get to eat every single kilogram we produce.

“Our cattle have always been spoiled here because they’re normally on oats but now they look even better. Instead of going from the extremes of having fat cows over summer to losing condition in autumn, we’re maintaining the cows body condition right through to spring”.

“Plus, they look a lot healthier and handling is so much easier. The cattle chase the wagon down the road when they hear the tractor!”

The stack was sealed with Silostop Max oxygen barrier film—proven to be up to 100 times more effective than conventional plastic—then covered with UV-stable SilageKeeper UV covers and secured using reusable SealKeeper gravel bags for added protection and environmental benefit.

“Once it’s covered, it looks tidy and you can walk on it,” Matt says. “We fold it back section by section and try to keep it nice and neat. The gravel bags are a great idea and they are going to last a while if you look after them. Not using tyre walls is an environmental benefit in itself.”

Cows are fed a 40% silage-based total mixed ration prepared by IAP Nutritionist, Dr Rob Lawrence. Finishing cattle are fed a 30% silage-based ration, reducing to 20%.

Rations are mixed and fed out using a horizontal auger mixer wagon. “Feeding a TMR is just so much easier all-round and that’s time saved,” Matt says. “Regardless of what anyone says, we are all time poor.”

The weaner ration also contains LEVUCELL SC probiotic, a natural, strain-specific live yeast that has been scientifically-proven to develop rumen function and a stable rumen environment.

The LEVUCELL SC is delivered to the cattle via a dry mineral pre-mix which is produced by Ag Solutions Australia. The addition to the mineral pre-mix ensures the cattle are getting the correct amounts required.

Matt is now exploring making silage from irrigated barley. “If you’re going to make silage, you’ve got to do it properly and that starts with the crop itself,” he says.

“You’ve got to prepare a seed bed properly, you’ve got to have the right inputs with regards to fertiliser and water. Silage is not something you can half-do. If you do it properly, you’ll definitely get the return out of it. We worked it out that our silage is costing us only $30 or $40 a tonne.

“Having silage has doubled or tripled our carrying capacity without the capital expense of buying more land. Land is getting dearer and dearer – you can easily pay about $12,000 a breeder unit, even for marginal country.”