In the fall of 2014, Bio Minerals Technologies started working with a rancher in Ruby Valley, NV. We had him apply the fermentation culture microbes to some of his forage as he baled. Some forage was baled in the fermentation moisture range, and some was baled in the standard moisture range. It was then stacked in his holding yards for winter feeding.
As we promised, none of the bales had any problems with heat. There were no bale fires, no combustion, not even on the high-moisture bales. Everything was cool and fermenting according to plan.
One of his holding yards, with hundreds of regular bales in it, had three low-moisture fermented bales. It also had some sheep. In the pictures below, you can see the sheep at the center, clustered around the three fermented bales. The closeup shows what they ate. Of all the hundreds of bales in that yard, the sheep were only eating the fermented bales. They knew what they liked, and their bodies were drawn to the higher nutrient quality and content.
We’ve seen even stronger preferences with the high-moisture bales. Cattle push each other around for food anyway, regardless of what it is, but they are very active when trying to get to the fermented forage. They will push the regular alfalfa out of the way and eat up the fermented alfalfa. You can watch their reactions in the video below.
Would you like to use fermented forages with your cattle operations? Call us today and we can show you how.