SHREDLAGE®
More milk, more meat, healthier livestock.

The silage maize conditioning technology known by the SHREDLAGE® brand name processes the crop intensively and increases the surface area of the chopped material many times over. This increases the physically effective fibre content of the silage in the cow's rumen.

07.05.2023

CLAAS has expanded its range of corncracker systems for special applications to include the MCC SHREDLAGE®, offering an attractive complementary solution for contractors, as well as for professional dairy producers with their own equipment. In future, the CLAAS MULTI CROP CRACKER concept (MCC) with a standardised cracker housing module and quick-change corncracker rollers will also include the long-established and proven MCC CLASSIC system. The latter is designed for conditioning short-chopped silage in the 3.5 to 12 millimetre length range; the length that is primarily used in biogas systems, but is also suitable as feed for dairy cattle. Another addition is the MCC MAX corncracker system, which has been newly developed by CLAAS to meet the growing demand for long-chopped silage. This system allows conditioning of a very wide range of chop lengths from 7 to 22 millimetres, and therefore represents a highly flexible corncracker variant for contractors who have to work with a number of different farms.

The requirements for silage chop length and processing differ widely depending on the individual farm and usage. The spectrum extends from extremely short chop lengths of between 3.5 and 12 mm all the way up to SHREDLAGE® with chop lengths greater than 25 mm. Broadly speaking, it is currently possible to identify three requirement groups.

Requirements differ widely around the world.

Requirement group 1: Short-chopped silage.

Chop lengths of 3.5 to 12 mm fall into the short-chopped silage group. Short chopping is used for silage destined for both biogas facilities as well as feed for dairy and beef cattle. The requirement here is for homogenous, short plant material with a very fine structure. An extremely high standard of kernel processing is also called for. This silage has a low effective fibre content and is used mainly in the biogas sector. When used as cattle feed, it must be supplemented with sufficient quantities of an alternative fibrous material.

Requirement group 2: Long-chopped silage.

'Classic' long-chopped silage covers the chop length range from 12 to 22 mm and has been established in many countries for years. In addition to kernel processing, the key here is to increase the physically effective fibre content; however, the different feed components are not shredded as intensively as they are in the SHREDLAGE® process. Nevertheless, the improved physical effect of long-chopped silage still benefits the rumination process; only clamp compaction proved to be a shortcoming in the past.

Requirement group 3: SHREDLAGE®.

SHREDLAGE® is a relatively recent feed conditioning process from North America which calls for extremely long chop lengths of up to 30 mm. The very high degree of kernel processing and powerful grinding effect increase the amount of starch – a source of energy – available in the rumen. Furthermore, the intensive longitudinal shredding of the stalks significantly increases effective fibre levels in the silage and so improves rumination.

The chopped material produced by the SHREDLAGE conditioning process has the following attributes:

Chop length of 26-30 mm
95% of the stalk content thinner than 4mm
Peeled stalks
Flexible constituents
Grains split into four or eight pieces
'Loose' appearance of all constituents

SHREDLAGE® harvest recommendations:

Freshly chopped material

Fermented chopped material

The recommendations for SHREDLAGE® harvesting are essentially the same as those for conventional maize silage. Experience has shown that particular attention needs to be paid to the stalks, as their degree of conditioning diminishes at an earlier stage than that of the kernel constituents.

The recommended dry matter content ranges from 32-36% DM. More moist crops, below 32% DM, can lead to increased effluent formation while DM levels above 36% have to be compressed with particular care.

The following recommendations serve as guidelines for correct machine configuration:

Chop length (mm)	Fresh mass	Dry mass
30	70	30
26	65	35
21	60	40

The corncracker roller gap must always be set to deliver the desired degree of crop conditioning and kernel processing.

The following methods for checking the corncracker settings are available:

01 / 03

CLAAS 1-litre sample cup

1-litre sample cup for a 'quick test' of kernel conditioning. All kernels in the sample should be split into at least four parts, eight being ideal, and there should be no complete kernels.