When is the Time Right to Harvest Corn Silage? | Dairy Herd
With Fall just around the corner, do you have a harvest date on your schedule? Do you estimate your harvest date by calculating the days after pollination and running plant moisture samples, or another time-tested method?
“Proper harvest timing is key when it comes to storing high quality corn silage,” says Casey Guindon, an educator in field and forage crops at Penn State University. Guindon recommends harvesting at a moisture level of 65%, or 35% dry matter, depending on the type of ensiling system you plan to use. “At this moisture content, the silage can be adequately compressed, and the oxygen is removed more quickly,” she says.
Another way to estimate the timing at which the corn is right is to calculate the number of days after pollination, according to Emily Carolan, a territory manager for Pioneer Seeds. This can helpful in providing an idea as to when to run plant moisture samples.
“Harvest over as short a time frame as possible,” recommends Donna Amaral-Phillips, an extension professor at the University of Kentucky. “Quality and consumption drops off after [you reach] 40% dry matter.”
Click here to read the full article by Dairy Herd’s Taylor Leach.
