6 Silage Additives For Small Farms That Prevent Spoilage

You just spent a long weekend cutting, wilting, and baling your haylage, racing against a forecast that keeps changing. Now, the real work begins: ensuring that forage turns into high-quality feed instead of a pile of moldy, spoiled waste. Silage additives are your insurance policy, a small investment to protect the immense value of your time, fuel, and winter feed supply.

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Choosing the Right Additive for Your Silage

There is no single "best" silage additive. The right choice depends entirely on the problem you’re trying to solve. Are you baling a little too wet? Is your forage low in the natural sugars needed for fermentation? Are you worried about spoilage once you open the bale and expose it to air?

Think of additives as tools in a toolbox. A bacterial inoculant that speeds up fermentation won’t do much good if your main problem is excess moisture that encourages nasty clostridial bacteria. Likewise, an acid-based preservative designed to prevent mold at feedout won’t help you if the initial fermentation fails.

Before you buy anything, diagnose your situation. The goal is to match the additive to the specific challenge posed by your forage, your weather, and your management style. A little forethought here saves a lot of money and prevents a lot of heartache come winter.

Lallemand Bonsilage for High-Moisture Haylage

When you’re forced to bale haylage on the wetter side—say, above 45% moisture—the risk of spoilage skyrockets. This is a common scenario on a small farm where you can’t always wait for that perfect drying day. This is where a product like Lallemand’s Bonsilage line really shines. It’s a bacterial inoculant, but not just any kind.

Bonsilage products contain specific strains of Lactobacillus buchneri, a bacteria that is a powerhouse at producing acetic acid during the fermentation process. While lactic acid is great for the initial pH drop, acetic acid is the key to aerobic stability. It actively inhibits the growth of yeasts and molds that cause heating and spoilage when you finally open the bale and expose it to air.

This is especially critical for baleage. Unlike a large bunker silo, a wrapped bale has a huge surface area relative to its volume. Once that plastic is pierced, air gets in. An additive that improves aerobic stability means your opened bales will stay fresh and cool for days longer, giving you more flexibility in your feeding routine and drastically reducing waste.

Pioneer 11GFT for a Rapid pH Drop in Corn

Corn silage is a different beast than haylage. It’s naturally high in sugars and lower in protein, making it relatively easy to ferment. The primary goal here is speed—you want to drop the pH as fast as possible to lock in nutrients and minimize dry matter loss. That’s the job of an inoculant like Pioneer’s 11GFT.

This product is loaded with proprietary strains of Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus buchneri. The L. plantarum goes to work immediately, efficiently converting plant sugars into lactic acid. This creates that rapid drop in pH that pickles the forage, preserving its feed value before undesirable microbes can get a foothold.

But it doesn’t stop there. The "GFT" stands for Grain and Forage Technology, which includes enzymes that improve fiber digestibility. This means your animals can extract more energy from every bite. For a small farm, getting more out of the feed you grew is the definition of efficiency. A fast, efficient fermentation means less shrink and more milk or meat from your herd.

Silo-King Plus: Enzymes for Digestibility

Sometimes, the main challenge isn’t just preservation, but unlocking the full nutritional potential of your forage. This is particularly true if you end up harvesting grass or alfalfa that’s a bit more mature than you’d like. The fiber in older plants is harder for livestock to break down. An additive like Silo-King Plus addresses this head-on.

While it does contain bacteria for fermentation, its standout feature is a cocktail of enzymes. These enzymes begin breaking down the complex fiber (cellulose and hemicellulose) in the forage right in the silo. Essentially, it starts the digestive process before the animal even eats the silage.

This pre-digestion makes the nutrients more available, boosting the energy value of the feed. The result is better animal performance from the same forage. It’s a way to upgrade the quality of your feed after it’s already been harvested, turning good forage into great forage.

Kemin Myco CURB to Inhibit Mold at Feedout

Fermentation is only half the battle. The moment you cut open a bale or dig into a silage pile, oxygen becomes the enemy, allowing molds and yeasts to thrive. This is a huge issue on smaller farms where you might only feed a few inches off the pile face a day, or a single bale might last for several days.

Products like Myco CURB are not inoculants; they are preservatives. They are typically a blend of organic acids, with propionic acid being the most common active ingredient. This acid is a potent mold and yeast inhibitor. You apply it as you’re making the silage, and it remains dormant until the feed is exposed to air.

Using a preservative like this is crucial if you know your feedout rate will be slow. It prevents the heating and visible mold growth that renders feed unpalatable and even dangerous. It’s a targeted solution for a specific problem: keeping feed fresh and safe after the silo is opened.

Using Molasses to Fuel Good Bacteria Growth

Not every solution has to come in a sealed bag from a major company. Molasses is a classic, low-tech silage additive that works by providing a simple, readily available food source for the naturally occurring beneficial bacteria on your forage. It gives them a jump start to begin producing lactic acid.

This is especially useful for forages that are naturally low in water-soluble carbohydrates (sugars), such as some pure grass stands or overly mature crops. Without enough sugar, the fermentation can stall out, leading to a higher final pH and poor-quality silage. Adding a gallon or two of molasses per ton of forage can make all the difference.

The tradeoff is that it can be sticky, messy to apply without the right equipment, and can attract flies and other pests if spilled. However, for its cost and accessibility, it’s a fantastic tool for ensuring a strong start to fermentation, especially when conditions aren’t perfect.

Dried Beet Pulp: A Natural Moisture Absorbent

Sometimes the problem is simple: your forage is just too wet. Maybe a sudden rain shower caught you, or you had to chop in dewy morning conditions to get the job done. Excess moisture is a recipe for disaster, as it can lead to a nasty clostridial fermentation that produces butyric acid—the smell is unforgettable, and livestock will refuse to eat it.

Dried beet pulp is an excellent, natural solution. It’s highly absorbent and can soak up a tremendous amount of excess moisture. By mixing in 50-100 pounds of dried beet pulp per ton of wet forage, you can effectively lower the overall moisture content of the pile or bale into a safer range for good fermentation.

As a bonus, beet pulp is also a highly digestible source of fiber and adds energy to the final feed. It’s more expensive than simply waiting for the crop to dry, of course. But when faced with the choice between spending a little extra on beet pulp or losing an entire cutting to spoilage, the decision is easy. It’s a practical fix for an imperfect situation.

Matching the Additive to Your Forage Type

Choosing the right additive is about asking the right questions before you even start the harvest. Don’t just buy what your neighbor uses. Instead, assess your specific situation and pick the tool that fits the job.

A simple decision-making framework can help guide your choice:

• Is my forage too wet? Your primary concern is preventing bad fermentation. Consider a moisture absorbent like beet pulp or a specialized inoculant like Bonsilage that thrives in high-moisture conditions.
• Is my forage low in sugar (e.g., pure grass, mature)? The fermentation needs fuel. Consider adding molasses to provide an easy energy source for the good bacteria.
• Am I worried about feed staying fresh after opening? Your problem is aerobic stability, especially with a slow feedout rate. A preservative like Myco CURB or an inoculant with L. buchneri is your best bet.
• Is my main goal maximum nutrition and digestibility? You want to unlock the full potential of the feed. An additive with enzymes, like Silo-King Plus or Pioneer 11GFT, is designed for this.

Ultimately, the best additive is the one that addresses your weakest link. By identifying that weakness ahead of time—whether it’s moisture, sugar content, or feedout rate—you can make a smart investment that pays for itself many times over in high-quality, preserved feed.

Additives aren’t magic, but they are powerful tools that provide a buffer against the unpredictability of weather and the challenges of small-scale harvesting. By thoughtfully selecting an additive, you’re not just preventing spoilage; you’re protecting your hard work and ensuring your animals have the best possible nutrition through the winter.