However, the residual trunk and thick branches left in the field after each harvest (at 20 cm height aboveprevious harvest), interfered physically with direct-wilting of the fresh high moisture forage (180–200 g/kg DM) in the field,and dictated immediate evacuation of the fresh forage mass. A previous study that used pre-wilted (a week in the field)MO silage as forage source for lactating cows (at a level of 130 g/kg of TMR DM) resulted in an increase in milk production and milk antioxidative activity (Cohen-Zinder et al., submitted for publication).