Agriculture and Environment: Sorghum

Better Management Practices: Manage Silage to Avoid Toxicity

Improved feed management can reduce the risk to animals of poisoning.

Cutting silage at the appropriate growth stage and feeding appropriate amounts to livestock can prevent prussic acid or cyanide poisoning in animals.

Treat Effluent from Silage
The effluent from sorghum silage should not be allowed to enter water bodies. It is a very effective soil additive and should be reintroduced to fields unless that is not feasible financially.

Many silage storage facilities, however, would permit producers to capture liquid as it builds up or drains from silos or other silage storage facilities and return it to the fields in liquid form. If the material will drain into water systems then it needs to be treated first.

This can be accomplished simply through containment until the organic matter decomposes, reducing BOD. This process can be accelerated through inoculation with effective microorganisms. All these treatments would reduce or prevent environmental effluent problems.