• • • Current state of forage production in Karelia and ways improving its effectiveness
Progress in dairy farming directly depends on availability of forage resources. Balanced feeding (mostly by bulky feed) significantly affects productive longevity of livestock. Current state of forage production in Karelia was analyzed using statistical data of long-term experiments. Perennial grasses prevailed (72% of total farm area — 68.8 thousand ha). Silage quantity reached 88% of total feed as the main fodder in Ayrshire cattle feeding. Specific northern condition and improper technology of forage production resulted in low nutritional value of silage. Crude protein content made up 10.85–12.12% in 1 kg of dry matter (DM), exchange energy concentration — 9.09–9.69 MJ. The paper reports on measures, improving the effectiveness of the regional forage production: increase in species composition of gramineous and legumes of high biological flexibility, green mass yield and nutritional value. Bastard alfalfa “Selena”, “Agniya” and “Taisiya” produced up to 8.5 t DM ha-1, 6.98 thousand feed units per 1 ha, exchange energy — 84.7 GJ and crude protein — 1.05 t under extreme northern conditions, exceeding red clover parameters. Forage mass of bastard alfalfa with hybrid clover and smooth brome or common timothy had the best nutritional value. Multicut grass use and early first cut are offered to improve forage quality.
Source: https://kormoproizvodstvo.ru/en/12-2018-2/, p. 6
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