This text comprises paid for content material produced in collaboration with FM BioEnergy
Following profitable trials in 2023/24 at Evesham-based Vale Inexperienced Vitality’s biogas plant, a brand new grass silage additive from FM BioEnergy has additional proved its worth and adaptableness this yr (2024/25). Silasil Vitality SG has delivered spectacular outcomes throughout a variety of conditions from excessive dry matter grasses within the West Midlands to moist fourth-cut silage in Northern Eire.
Silasil Vitality SG was particularly developed to supply a silage additive for the variability of UK-grown grass, and is equally efficient at a variety of dry issues, temperatures and pH ranges. That includes a singular mixture of 4 bacterial strains, as an alternative of the same old two present in different silage components, it has confirmed very best for the unpredictable summer season climate seen throughout the UK in recent times. Andy Lee, FM BioEnergy’s UK Forage Supervisor, explains:
“In the UK and Ireland, we’ve had two years with highly unpredictable weather for making silage. In some areas it was wet early, in others it was too hot during mid-summer, drying crops out. In Northern Ireland particularly, they have had two atrocious years. This means that farmers have faced really challenging conditions. However, Silasil Energy SG has proved its effectiveness in two of the worst years possible for silage production.”
Saving moist silage
One person grateful for the advantages of Silasil Vitality SG is Willsborough AD close to Derry/Londonderry in Northern Eire. The five hundred kW on-farm biogas plant is predominantly fed utilizing grass silage and wholecrop silage however with common rainfall round 3.6 inches (92mm) monthly, it may be exhausting to provide the beneficial minimal dry matter content material of 25%.
“I’m really pleased with the results we’ve had from using Silasil Energy SG this season,” says Willsborough AD proprietor Rob Gallagher. “In the past we’ve had issues with clamps heating and spoiling. However, with Silasil Energy SG, from the front of the clamp to the very end, the feedstock remains cold and free from yeasts and moulds all the way through the season. This hasn’t always been the case with some of the other silage additives we’ve tried over the years.”
“The amount of rainfall in Northern Ireland and the north of England can make it very hard to produce dry silage,” explains Andy Lee. “Ideally, silage should be wilted for a maximum of 36 hours otherwise the aerobic bacteria start to consume all the nutrients, but wet weather can delay this. The other issue is that multiple turning of windrows to dry wet grass increases the chance of contamination with soil, manure, etc, increasing the risks of butyric acid formation. It is therefore more important to harvest it within 36 hours of cutting, irrespective of how dry it is, and the beauty of Silasil Energy SG is that it will preserve the crop even at low dry matters.”
Evaluation in April 2025 after 22 weeks of storage confirmed that final yr’s fourth minimize silage, which had dry matter beneath 24% at harvest, was nonetheless in good situation with good fuel yield potential. “Despite low dry matter of just 22%, key quality parameters including protein and acid levels were good, and the pH was below 4,” provides Andy. “Without the use of Silasil Energy SG that silage would have been completely unusable due to its low dry matter.”
Equally good for dry silage
Whereas Northern Eire and the west of Scotland had been wetter than common final yr, within the West Midlands it was a distinct story, with areas equivalent to Shropshire getting lower than 20% rain than common.
This poses a distinct problem – one main dairy farm with a 1.4 MW biogas plant produced first minimize grass silage above 40% dry matter final summer season. The farm trialled Silasil Vitality SG and the outcomes have been conclusive.
“Their first cut grass silage had almost 41% dry matter with high protein and digestibility,” explains Andy. “After we examined samples from the clamp in March 2025, there have been no yeasts or moulds, and the crop was very secure. The truth is, the evaluation was the most effective outcomes for grass silage I’ve ever seen.
“The farmer particularly likes the fact that he doesn’t have to worry about what the summer weather is going to be like – he knows the product will work equally well, whether it’s a washout or a scorcher. Plus, keeping the biogas silage clamps free from yeasts and moulds helps to reduce the risk of contaminating the dairy cattle feed elsewhere on the farm.”
Expertise reinforces authentic trials
The experiences of FM BioEnergy’s clients all through 2024 underline the outcomes from preliminary trials at Vale Inexperienced Vitality’s 1.5 MW Spring Hill AD plant. Vale Inexperienced trialled Silasil Vitality SG on 12,000 tonnes of grass silage harvested from three cuts in 2023, and Feedstock Supervisor Nick Reynolds was impressed with the outcomes. “Not only is it easy to apply, but it works on both wet and dry grass, keeping the clamp face cool and ensuring the energy stays in the silage,” he commented.
Samples of handled and untreated grass at harvest confirmed that ranges of lactic acid and acetic acid within the samples that had been handled with Silasil Vitality SG had doubled after simply three days in comparison with the untreated silage. Common acetic acid ranges had been 0.454 within the handled samples, in comparison with 0.178 within the untreated samples. Seven months later, acid ranges had been equally excessive, and the pH remained secure at just below 4. Given this, it’s no shock that Vale Inexperienced used Silasil Vitality SG on all its grass silage once more in 2024.
“With positive results from very different samples across two difficult years, Silasil Energy SG has proven itself to be an extremely reliable grass silage additive irrespective of the weather conditions or dry matter of the silage being produced,” stresses Andy Lee.
