The harm of mildew silage to dairy cows

Reasons for mildew of silage:

The mildew of silage has a great impact on the quality of silage. The mildew process mainly occurs in the fermentation stage after the silage is made and when the silage is used after opening the cellar. On the one hand, when the silage is cut too long or the dry matter is too high during the production, the silage is not compacted during pressing, or the silage production time is too long, and the plastic film and the silage are not exhausted when the silo is sealed, etc., will affect the normal silage. Fermentation makes the silage mildew and produces mycotoxins. On the other hand, if the silage is used after the pit is opened, if the pit surface is not well managed, such as the pit surface is too wide, the silage advances too little every day, the silage reclaimer is not used, the cross section of the silage pit is uneven, and water accumulates in the silage pit during the rainy season. If it is not eliminated in time, the silage is not ready to be used immediately and the silage is taken out and stacked in advance, etc., will cause the secondary fermentation of the silage, resulting in mildew of the silage.

The harm of silage mildew to dairy cows:
The silage will produce aflatoxins, zearalenone, ochratoxin and other mycotoxins during the process of mildew. Since dairy cows have a special stomach, the rumen, microorganisms in the rumen can effectively degrade most of the toxins, so dairy cows are less sensitive to most mycotoxins. But when dairy cows are ingested a large amount of feed containing mycotoxins or long-term intake of moldy feed, mycotoxins that have not been degraded by rumen microbes will be digested and absorbed through the digestive tract and reach various tissues and organs of the body, causing damage to the dairy cows, especially to the liver. Compared with kidney damage. Different mycotoxins have different harms to dairy cows. The harm of various mycotoxins to dairy cows can be seen in the following figure:

How to reduce the harm of mycotoxins to dairy cows?
(1) Solve the problem from the source. When making silage, strictly control the length of silage cutting, the content of dry matter, the pressing time, and the effect of the silage. Try to exhaust the air when sealing the cellar, and use sandbags, tires, etc. to suppress the plastic film. Some silage starters can be used to speed up the fermentation process of silage and reduce the mildew of silage.

(2) When opening the cellar, strengthen the management of the silage cellar, including the management of the cellar surface section and the water storage in the cellar in rainy weather, to avoid mildew caused by secondary fermentation.

(3) The use of mycotoxin adsorbent. Adding a certain amount of mycotoxins adsorbent to the dairy cow feed can absorb the mycotoxins in the feed and inhibit the toxicity of the mycotoxins in the dairy cows. There are many types of mycotoxin adsorbents. According to its mechanism of action and adsorption characteristics, choose the suitable mycotoxin adsorbent for your farm.