BMR Silage

BMR Silage

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Dairy producers have increased their use of corn silage as a forage source over the past 10 years. It’s really been influenced by the high price of energy sources like corn. And, since hybrid BMR corn silage has more digestible nutrients, it can substitute for some corn. According to some research, people have substituted BMR for lesser digestible corn silages, and they’ve been able to increase the forage part of their rations upwards of 10% because so much of it is a higher-digestibility feed. BMR is a naturally occurring gene mutation that contains less lignin in its cornstalks than is found in conventional silage corn. In fact there is 30% less lignin in BMR, so it is purported that there are more digestible nutrients and cows eat more of it. It has been a real boon to producers since they are able to eliminate between three and 5 pounds of purchased corn from the ration and increased the forage part upwards of 60% because of the higher fiber digestibility of the BMR. DuPont Pioneer recently entered the BMR market and brand manager, Michael Sato, who I met at the Commodity Classic says his customers are very happy. “I've got guys who are trying it, very excited about it because of the yield levels that we are bringing to the table. Our key customer is the dairy man. In some cases where the dairies are large and they don't have enough land to raise their own feed and we are their custom grower.” Michael says BMR silage hybrids really have a good fit for high-production cows.

 

For more on BMR corn silage hybrids, visit Pioneer.com

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