Corn silage preharvest considerations

It’s been an interesting growing season. Concerns of low snowfall and a potential summer drought quickly turned to saturated soil this spring. For some, the corn looks great. For others, widespread variation across fields has been a common theme most of the season. As the days get shorter and nights cool down, we know that corn silage harvest is just around the corner. A few strategies can help you be prepared for and have an efficient harvest.

Safety should be the top goal. Corn silage harvest brings an increase in machinery traffic and long hours. Plan and communicate for safe operation in the fields, on the road, at the pile and everywhere in between. High-visibility clothing is recommended as standard practice for anyone near or around the harvest process. Make safety a key focus in your preharvest planning and meetings.

Forage inventory is something that should be monitored on a regular basis. This is a great time to estimate the current inventory and determine how much silage needs to be chopped in the weeks ahead. Estimating the tonnage of standing corn may be more difficult with variation across fields. Historic yield information can be helpful during this process. Keep in mind, the ear of the plant generally represents more than 50% of the whole plant’s dry matter, so grain yield will be impactful.

Have a contingency plan for supplemental storage if yields surpass expectations. This plan may also include a shift in harvest strategies such as leaving surplus acres for either high moisture corn or dry corn. Silage cutting height may also be part of your preharvest discussion as you evaluate potential yields versus quality.

Take time to prepare your corn silage storage site. Remove old feed, dirt and mud that may have accumulated in the past several months. Examine forage pads and sidewalls for holes that may need to be repaired. It is common practice for farms to move from one end of a corn silage pile to the opposite end as new silage is delivered. Give yourself adequate time to make this feed transition to avoid an abrupt change to the rumen microbes.

Make sure you have plenty of tires or sidewalls to achieve maximum coverage of your pile or bunker. More tires may have been used to cover the increased yields of haylage and other forages harvested throughout the summer. Replace any tires that have exposed steel cords so they don’t damage plastic or cause injuries. Stage tires in an area where they can be moved quickly to a pile or bunker.

Make sure you have enough regular plastic and oxygen barrier plastic on hand so that when the pile covering crew shows up, they can complete the task. Account for a 4- to 10-foot overlap at seams and an extra 3-4 feet at pile edges.

Silage inoculants provide an opportunity to speed up fermentation and improve DM recovery. Be sure to allow plenty of time for delivery of inoculants and see that they are properly stored upon arrival to preserve bacterial integrity. Ensure that your inoculant applicator is clean and in good working order.

When it comes to silage density, the goal is at least 15 pounds per cubic foot of DM. Review your harvest plan and make sure you have adequate weight and time for packing equipment on the storage structure to achieve this goal. Calculate the rate of delivery to the structure in tons per hour and multiply by 800 — that’s how many pounds of packing equipment need to be on the bunker or pile.

Kernel processing is critical, especially as DM and milk line progress. Preharvest is a good time to check the processor roll condition and gap setting. Roll gap clearances are generally measured in millimeters with a normal opening of 1-4 millimeters. This setting is dependent on kernel maturity, hardness and size. Settings ideal for harvest in previous years may be significantly different for the current crop and should be monitored as harvest commences.

Fields should be monitored closely as kernel development ensues in the weeks ahead to achieve optimum whole plant DM for your storage structure. Work with your corn silage advisory team to determine when to start chopping. Most importantly, have a safe harvest.

Barry Visser is a nutritionist for Vita Plus.