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Hay & Silage

Silage is an important strategy used by farmers to fill seasonal feed gaps, to manage pastures, and to provide high quality, low cost forage for cattle.

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Better Hay & Silage
Workshop Resources

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Top Fodder:
Successful Silage Manual
Silage has an important and expanding role in Australia’s dairy, beef and sheep industries, and provides producers with a valuable tool for growing the farm business.
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Economic Decisions:
Powerpoint Slides
Learn the key drivers of profitable hay and silage, how to calculate feed costs, choose the most efficient conservation method, and understand the value of high quality, low-waste feed in kilograms of beef or lamb.
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Case Study: Aggie Forrester
Northampton
Aggie Forrester runs sheep and cattle in Northampton and recently purchased 200 acres in Capel. To support their long-term plan for the new property, she attended the Better Hay and Silage workshop and the Rumen8-beef workshop.
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Case Study: Koojan Downs Feedlot
Moora
Koojan Downs Feedlot in Moora has a 20,000-head capacity and forms part of Harvest Road’s vertically integrated beef business, which also includes northern backgrounding properties and a Pilbara breeding station. 
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Case Study: Mark Bailey
Narrikup
Mark Bailey farms 300 acres in Narrikup, running a cow herd of Galloway, Angus and Shorthorn cattle. He produces most of his own fodder and attended two Better Hay and Silage workshops and two Rumen8-Beef workshops in the South Coast region between 2023 and 2025.

Hay & Silage Videos

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Hay & Silage:
Short Review
Follow up webinar for participants of the Western Beef - Future Drought Fund Better Hay and Silage workshops. Review of main points and Q&A.
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Forage Testing:
Why, When and How
Learn how to collect representative samples of different feeds and send them to labs for analysis. Results can be used in feed budgeting programs, such as Rumen8 for Beef or Dairy.
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How to Make
Quality Hay and Silage
Hay and Silage expert Dario Nandapi explains all the key points to making quality Hay and Silage.
 
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Assessing Forage Dry Matter With a Microwave Oven
Hay and silage should be baled at the right dry-matter levels to prevent losses and hay-shed fires. This video shows how to measure dry matter using a microwave to reduce these risks.

Better Hay & Silage
Workshop Resources

thumbnail-better-hay-and-silage-short-review.jpg
Hay & Silage:
Short Review
Follow up webinar for participants of the Western Beef - Future Drought Fund Better Hay and Silage workshops. Review of main points and Q&A.
thumbnail-forage-testing.jpg
Forage Testing:
Why, When and How
Learn how to collect representative samples of different feeds and send them to labs for analysis. Results can be used in feed budgeting programs, such as Rumen8 for Beef or Dairy.
thumbnail-forage-how-to-make.jpg
How to Make
Quality Hay and Silage
Hay and Silage expert Dario Nandapi explains all the key points to making quality Hay and Silage.
 
thumbnail-dry-matter-microwave.jpg
Assessing Forage Dry Matter With a Microwave Oven
Hay and silage should be baled at the right dry-matter levels to prevent losses and hay-shed fires. This video shows how to measure dry matter using a microwave to reduce these risks.

Rumen8 Videos

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Part 1:
Rumen8 Nutrition 101
Learn about using ruminant nutrition that South West WA livestock producers need to know to help them manage production over dry seasons.
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Part 2:
How to Use Rumen8
A run through of the main features of the feed budgeting software and how it can be used to create diets to achieve specific weight gains using a variety of feeds.
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Part 3:
Case study
Learn from an example of how Rumen8 can be used to test different diets and compare the nutritional and economic outcomes.
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Part 4:
Additional Tips
Learn about more advanced aspects of the software, including creating your own feed library, accounting for losses, and assessing the impact of diets on cattle methane emissions

BETTER HAY AND SILAGE IS AN INITIATIVE FUNDED BY

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