Biomass loss (shrink) was measured in commercially sized cereal silage piles.
Shrink was as wet weight, dry matter (oDM) and volatiles corrected oDM (vcoDM).
Immature silages had higher levels of volatile fatty acids and alcohols than mature.
Aerosol carbon compound losses are little impacted by crop maturity at harvest.
The vcoDM shrink (i.e., real shrink) losses of all piles were low at ~ 35 g/kg.