Real Silage

What Makes Masters Choice Unique

Despite what the industry touted for so long, corn is not “just corn”. Differences in grain texture and fiber composition matter. Planting populations matter. Taking a unique and dedicated approach to corn breeding for livestock matters.

Considering that 40% of the corn market is fed to livestock, Masters Choice believes these producers deserve a better fit for their operation. It isn’t fair to them to fit square pegs in round holes, by continuing to push corn bred for export into their program. So, we’re bringing a better solution, backed by science and data you can experience below.

What the Experts Say

Comparing Lab Results

To get a feel for exactly how we compare to our competition, MC recently commissioned some testing that would compare our full hybrid lineup to dozens of our top competitor’s best silage hybrids. The competitor’s group consisted of dozens of hybrids taken from the same plot locations (over 275 unique locations) as the MC lineup group, and they were tested at the same lab. Competitor hybrids included Pioneer and Mycogen, among others.

Masters Choice clearly outperformed the competition with a 3 ton per acre yield advantage, accompanied by a 2,000 pound increase in milk per ton. The MC advantage is clear, representing a milk per acre advantage of over 4,700! In addition, the current milk per ton equation does not factor in the digestibility of the starch. If you include our advantage of more than 3 points in starch digestibility, the MC advantage over our competitors becomes even greater. This results in a more profitable decision for dairy farmers to make and keeps their cows happy and healthy while they increase milk production.

Starch Digestibility

The term “floury grain” is often used to describe Masters Choice’s soft, white starch structure. Our kernels with the softer endosperm have less vitreous material, meaning a greater portion of the kernel is digested. Hard, vitreous kernels are great for withstanding the rigors of exporting corn to foreign countries, but terrible as livestock feed.

To demonstrate the differences in grain digestibility we recently studied the differences in 7 hour starch percentage between the MC lineup and the lineup of one of our leading competitors. What we found was when averaging all MC lineup samples and the competitors samples, across many locations, that the Masters Choice grain was more than 3% better, a very large disparity in this particular test and goes a long way toward profit producing efficiency. When comparing milk per ton with these samples, we also saw 1000 pound increase in the Masters Choice.

Passage Rate

One of the first, and most important, things we notice when comparing soft, floury grain to its hard, vitreous counterpart is that the soft grain hangs in the rumen longer. One reason that the vitreous kernels, typical of our competitors, passes through the rumen so quickly is that they are heavy, their higher specific gravity passing them through the rumen faster. This leads to a much greater percentage of whole kernels passing through the manure, undigested. By staying in the rumen longer (more than twice as long actually), the soft, floury kernels can be more completely digested, and more starch can be absorbed as milk-producing energy. A Michigan State study, from Allen and Oba, has proven that floury grain’s rate of passage is half that of vitreous kernels in dry grain, but the numbers are even greater when comparing for high-moisture corn.

These are significant differences. When so many more vitreous kernels go undigested, it does nothing for milk production and increases the risk of hind gut acidosis.

Feed First

As we look through the different characteristics that set a Masters Choice hybrid apart from the competition, one aspect that can’t be overlooked, especially this time of year, is the ability to “beat the fall slump”. As a general rule, silage that has been ensiled longer feeds better, but often a producer doesn’t have enough silage on hand and will be forced to feed fresh silage. Feeding this new silage often leads to a decrease in milk production.

The “fall slump” can be defeated though! Masters Choice hybrids, utilizing soft, floury grain, can be fed much earlier in the season (often with no ensiling time at all) without sacrificing milk production. This can be achieved because floury hybrids have fewer proteins that cross-link, or bind, the starch. Availability of this floury starch contributes to microbe production in the rumen, without the need to extensively ensile the silage.

The chart below shows the results of a 7 hour starch test comparing MC floury grain samples to all samples collected from CVAS. This shows that many Masters Choice hybrids had the same starch digestibility 28 days from harvest that our competitors had with more than 100 days of ensiling time.

“The advantage we’ve seen with Masters Choice, if you think about the 4-7 pound milk advantage, and put that on a per acre basis; you do the math and pretty soon you’re bumping four or five or six hundred dollar an acre difference. If you do the math, it’s pretty impressive, so you’ve got to pay attention to the details.” – Steve Rozeboom, Rozeboom Dairy

Real Silage

What Makes Masters Choice Unique

What the Experts Say

See The Difference

Let’s Talk About It

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our hybrids

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Real Silage

What Makes Masters Choice Unique

What the Experts Say

See The Difference

Let’s Talk About It

Watch these videos about Real Silage

our hybrids

About

Digital Media

Contact Us

Contact us