Method and apparatus of preparing of a silage good and ensiling process

A method of preparing a silage good for production of a silage product, the method comprising:

• selecting a freshly harvested good to be subjected to an ensiling process, wherein the harvested good is selected from corn, sorghum, sugar cane, rye, triticale, barley, wheat, lolium, and alfalfa;
• mechanically processing, via a first device, the freshly harvested good thereby reducing a particle size of the freshly harvested good;
• determining, via an automated process, a plurality of parameters (xi) characterising a chemical composition and/or a property of the harvested good;
• applying a first model on the determined parameters (xi) to determine an ensilability index number (Ini), that is characteristic for an expected ensilability of the harvested good;
• applying a second model on the determined parameters (xi) to determine a retention index number (Rei), that is characteristic for an expected loss of dry matter (DM) of the harvested good during the ensiling process;
• predicting, based on the expected ensilability and the expected loss of DM of the harvested good, an expected quality of the silage product;
• responsive to predicting the expected quality of the silage product, determining types and amounts of ensiling additives to be added to the harvested good for controlling the ensiling process depending on the ensilability index number (Ini) and the retention index number (Rei) by using a lookup table with a mapping between the types and amounts of ensiling additives and the ensilability index number (Ini) and the retention index number (Rei),
• wherein the ensiling additives comprise one or more of Lactobacillus Plantarum, Lactobacillus sasei, Streptococcus faecium, Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactobacillus curbatus, Lactobacillus coryniformis ssp. coryniformis, Pediococcus acidilactici, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus buchneri, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus viridescens, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Leuconstoc cremoris, Leuconstoc dextranicum, or combinations thereof;
• spraying the harvested good with the determined additives to obtain the silage good;
• and
• subjecting the silage good to the ensiling process to produce the silage product.