The document outlines the importance of fodder conservation for providing animal feed during dry seasons, detailing methods for making hay and silage. It includes specific instructions for creating silage from sweetpotato vines and maize stalks, emphasizing timing, proper preparation, and storage techniques. The importance of silage quality is also highlighted, along with the partnership of the International Livestock Research Institute and funding support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

1. Forage conservation and management
1. Importance of fodder conservation
The importance of fodder conservation is to capture the nutrients in grass in a
storable form to make them available as a forage feed in the dry season.
Feed can be conserved as hay or silage.
4 Silage making – sweetpotato vines
To make an improved plastic tube silo you will need:
• 4 cm PVC drainage pipe
• 2.5 m of 1000 gauge silage tubing
• 2.3 m of flexible rubber tubing
• One 4 cm plastic tap
• 7 m of sisal twine
• 3 wooden poles (can be cut locally), at least 1.2 m in length and 5
cm in diameter
• Fabricated drum
• 10 kg of molasses
• 30 liters of water
• 375 kg of fresh vines and 175 kg of fresh storage roots or Napier
grass or similar to make 500 kg silage
Farmers’ workshop: 5th-10th
February, 2018
Nandi and Bomet counties
2. Hay making
• Timing: harvest hay at early flowering
• Mowing
• Tedding
• Drying : let the grass dry for 3 days
• Raking: rake after 2 days to allow for even
drying.
• Baling: you can use a manual hay bailer
• Storing: should be store in a cool dry place
away from rodent and termites as well as
leaking roofs
Silage can also be made from maize
stalks at ‘milk stage’ and Napier grass
(1 m tall and chopped to 2 cm)
Source: learn.e-elimo.org
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• Assembling the internal drainage system for the silage tube
3. Determining good silage quality
• Well-prepared silage is bright or light
yellow-green in colour, has a strong smell
similar to that of fermented milk and a firm
texture.
• Poor quality silage tends to smell similar to
rancid butter or ammonia.
Stages
• Proper wilting needs to be done for sweetpotato vines
• Compaction of the vines is necessary to expel as much air as
possible. Compact as you add molasses every 30 cm.
• Store the silage under a shade and place some weight on top of
it.
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Phyllis Ndung’u, Peter Kirui and Linus Kiprotich
International Livestock Research Institute
Phyllis Ndung’u
Mazingira Centre, International Livestock Research Institute,
P.O. Box 30709-00100 Nairobi, Kenya.
This project was funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development.
This document is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. July 2018
ILRI thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund