SHREDLAGE®
More milk, more meat, and healthier livestock.

The silage corn conditioning technology, known by the SHREDLAGE® brand, processes the crop intensively and increases the surface area of the chopped material many times over. This increases the physically effective fiber 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 the future, the CLAAS MULTI CROP CRACKER concept (MCC) with a standardized 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 0.14–0.47" (3.5 to 12 mm) 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 CLAAS has newly developed to meet the growing demand for long-chopped silage. This system allows conditioning of a very wide range of chop lengths from 0.28–0.87" (7 to 22 mm) 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 0.14 and 0.47" (3.5 and 12 mm) all the way up to SHREDLAGE® with chop lengths greater than about 1" (25 mm). From an overarching perspective, it is currently possible to divide them into three groups.

Requirements differ widely around the world.

Requirement group 1: Short-chopped silage.

Chop lengths of 0.15" to 0.9" (3.5 to 12 mm) fall under the short-chopped silage group. Short chopping is used for silage destined for both biogas facilities and 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 fiber 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 0.5" to 0.9" (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 fiber 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 new feeding concept from North America that calls for extremely long chop lengths of up to about 1.2" (30 mm). The very high degree of kernel processing and powerful grinding effect increases the amount of starch—a source of energy—available in the rumen. Furthermore, the intensive lengthwise shredding of the stalks significantly increases effective fiber levels in the silage and thus improves rumination.

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

Chop length of 1–1.18" (26–30 mm)
95% of the stalk content is thinner than 0.16" (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

In principle, the same recommendations apply when harvesting SHREDLAGE® as for conventional corn silage. Experience shows that particular attention must be paid to stalk processing, as the degree of processing decreases earlier here than with the kernal components.

The recommended dry matter content ranges from 32% to 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 in inches	Fresh mass	Dry mass
1.18 (30 mm)	2.76 (70 mm)	1.18 (30 mm)
1.02 (26 mm)	2.56 (65 mm)	1.38 (35 mm)
0.83 (21 mm)	2.36 (60 mm)	1.57 (40 mm)

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-liter sample cup (a quarter of a gallon)

A 1-liter (a quarter of a gallon) sample cup is used 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.

Field reports.

Loc Brévalaire, Brittany, France

SHREDLAGE®
More milk, more meat, and healthier livestock.

SHREDLAGE® harvest recommendations:

Suitable JAGUAR models.

JAGUAR 900

SHREDLAGE®More milk, more meat, and healthier livestock.

SHREDLAGE® harvest recommendations:

Suitable JAGUAR models.

JAGUAR 900

SHREDLAGE®
More milk, more meat, and healthier livestock.