Silage

Also: ensilage, haylage

Silage is grass, maize, sorghum or another green crop chopped and packed tightly in a pit, clamp, tower silo or wrapped bale, with the air kept out. Bacteria ferment the sugars into acids, and the acid preserves the crop much as pickling preserves vegetables. Silage can be made in weather too wet for hay and keeps much of the feed value of the fresh crop, which is why it became the main winter feed of dairy herds in Europe and North America in the twentieth century. Bales wrapped in plastic are a common sight in fields. In India, smallholders are encouraged to make silage of maize and sorghum in bags and small pits.

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