Making silage/cow tongue

BY GRACE JOHNSON, MISSOURI, AGE 17

Many farmers and ranchers feed silage to their
cattle, but have you ever wondered how it is
made? Or maybe you’ve even helped make it, but
aren’t quite sure how the process works. It all hap-
pens in a process called fermentation!
First, when the silage matter is cut and chopped
you have to pack it tightly to make sure that oxygen
can’t get in. The packed forage continues to use up
any available oxygen, and once it is all gone, and
no more is getting in, it is in an anaerobic environ-
ment. Anaerobic means without oxygen. This stage
should happen within a few hours, and this is when
the fermentation really begins.
Benefi cial lactobacillus bacteria are on the forage
when it is cut, and they multiply rapidly until the
forage is fermented. These special bacteria eat up the
carbohydrates from the forage, and they release lactic
acid. The lactic acid does most of the work by lowering
the pH in the forage, which makes it more acidic. This
is like pickling, and it keeps the silage from molding
and overheating. After the pH is lowered to where no
more carbohydrates can function, the fermentation is
done. This process can take about a month. Now the

silage can stay good for up to three years if it is not
exposed to oxygen.
Another way to make good silage is to use inocu-
lants. These inoculants contain anaerobic bacteria,
which are bacteria that thrive in an environment
without oxygen. You can put inoculants into the for-
age while it is fermenting. This will produce even more
lactic acid, which speeds the fermentation process up.
Silage fermentation can be confusing to learn,
but it’s a great way to store nutritious feed if done
properly!

SMEREKA / SHUTTERSTOCK

p

H

Making Silage

JED PACKER / SHUTTERSTOCK

What’s pH?

It stands for ower of ydrogen
and measures whether something is acidic or
base (alkaline). An acid releases hydrogen ions into water
and a base pulls hydrogen ions from water. This activity can be
measured, giving us a pH number between 0 and 14. A pH of 7
is neutral and anything lower that that is more acidic, anything
higher than that is more basic, or alkaline.
When silage is done fermenting, it should have a pH of around
4 to 4.5, which is the same as dill pickles, and considered
weakly acidic.

Corn is a common forage used for making silage, but silage can also be made
from other forages such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, alfalfa or sorghum.

Covering the silage with plastic keeps out the oxygen and excess
moisture. Make sure you use the best silo plastic available (with
a high OTR – oxygen transmission rate). Exposure to oxygen
causes yeasts and molds to start growing, which will make the
silage heat up and rot. Once the silage is opened up to oxygen
for feeding, it is important to manage the exposure and feed
the exposed area within a few days. This silage pit has a well
maintained face, which helps a lot!

4IWORKING RANCH JUNIORI SUMMER 2017

They are long! Cow tongues are 12 to 14 inches
long! Since cows don’t have top teeth in the front of
their mouth, they use their long tongues to grab grass,
then they bite it off with their bottom front teeth.

They have amazing taste buds! The tip of a
cow’s tongue alone has approximately 1,600 to 1,800
taste buds. The middle section of the tongue doesn’t
have very many at all, but the back of the tongue
contains about 13,000 to 20,000! We humans have a
total of anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 taste buds.

They are rough! The bumps on a tongue are
called papillae. In cattle, the papillae at the front of
the tongue are tough and spiky and face backward.
This makes their tongue feel like sandpaper, and that’s
perfect for when the cow, or another cow, need some
grooming and it’s also good for grabbing their feed.

They are… tasty? You might not think that
eating a cow’s tongue would taste very good, and
although some Americans really like it, it is a more
popular dish in other countries, such as Japan and
Mexico. There are many different ways to prepare it
and it can be eaten just like a roast, or put in tacos,
on sandwiches, in a stir-fry or stew, etc.

TIM O’BYRNE

CHRISTINE O’BYRNE

What do cows and
cats have in common?

Cats have backward facing fi liform papillae on their tongue too,
that’s why it feels kind of like a little rasp and is excellent for
grooming! Many cows and cats enjoy grooming their friends, too.

4 THINGS ABOUT COW TONGUES

We decided to try
cooking up a cow
tongue at Working
Ranch Junior
headquarters.
After marinating,
slow cooking,
then grilling, the
results were quite
delicious!

This close up of a cow’s tongue shows why it feels so rough! These are the
fi liform papillae that point backward and are located near the tip of the
tongue. There are four other types of papillae on a cow’s tongue, conical
(which are cone shaped and point backward too, but are located at the
back of the tongue), fungiform (they look like little mushrooms and have
taste buds on them), circumvallate (they have the most taste buds on
them) and lenticular (they are shaped like lentils).

SUMMER 2017 I WORKING RANCH JUNIOR I 5

Multiple Choice

The bumps on a tongue are

called ___________

• moles

• saliva glands

• papillae.

• taste buds

Multiple Choice

The cows tongue feels like?

• sand paper

• pudding

• silk

• leather

Multiple Choice

Which country is tongue more popular to eat?

• Mexico

• China

• Africa

• Canada