From our side of the fence

Maggie (from left), Eric, Kaylin and Joe Merdan

Merdan Dairy Inc.

Avon, Minnesota

Stearns County

80 cows

Tell us about your corn silage harvest plans for your dairy. We planted 81 acres of corn for corn silage. We have a New Holland FP230 3-row chopper with a processor that we pull with a Case IH MX 210. We usually use three or four 16-foot H&S silage boxes with two guys hauling loads. We have one guy chopping, and my two daughters are running the bagger tractor and doing chores in between loads. The tonnage this year wasn’t the greatest due to the lack of rain, but I would say we averaged about 3/4 of what we usually get on a good year.

When did you start or plan to start, and how far along are you on corn silage harvest? We started chopping Aug. 31 and finished Sept. 5.

What corn variety did you plant? For our corn silage, we planted Enogen 95-day and 97-day corn and also LG Seeds 94-day corn variety. The corn was planted between May 5 and May 8. Corn silage acres were all side dressed with urea when the corn was about 8 to 10 inches tall.

What challenges arose during the growing season or while chopping? The biggest challenge we had this year with corn was the lack of rain in July. There was a point when we didn’t have rain for three and a half weeks. The corn started out great and really took off after it was side dressed, and then it really took a hit without the rain.

How is the silage stored? We store all our corn silage in ag bags. This year, we filled four 9-by-200-foot ag bags.

What is the biggest change you have made to corn silage harvest that has benefited the farm? We started planting Enogen corn, which really helped our milk components. As soon as we started feeding it, we saw an uptick in the components. Also, using the processor on the chopper has helped with digestibility.

Tell us about your farm and family. I farm with my brother. My two daughters, Kaylin and Maggie, help on the farm daily. We farm around 325 acres on a century farm, milk around 80 Holstein cows in a double-6 parallel parlor and house them in a freestyle hoop barn.

Judd and Anna Saemrow

Waterville, Minnesota

Rice County

800 cows

Tell us about your corn silage harvest plans for your dairy. We planned on chopping 250 acres this year but only chopped 150 because we averaged over 35 tons per acre. We used an indole-3-butyric acid inoculant.

When did you start or plan to start, and how far along are you on corn silage harvest? We started chopping Tuesday, Sept. 1, and were all finished by Friday, Sept. 4.

What corn variety did you plant? We planted a Pioneer hybrid P14830Q May 2.

What challenges arose during the growing season or while chopping? It was a great growing season for us; we got timely rains, and the heat didn’t affect our growth. Our biggest challenge was that we got an inch of rain throughout the four days that we were chopping.

How is the silage stored? We store our silage in a bunker that is 250 feet long and 70 feet wide.

What is the biggest change you have made to corn silage harvest that has benefited the farm? The biggest change we have made recently is buying our own telehandler with a 40-foot reach. It makes it faster and easier to cover the bunker.

Tell us about your farm and family. We milk 800 cows in a double-12 parallel parlor and house them in a freestall barn. I am the fifth generation on my family farm. I work alongside my dad, Gordon, multiple cousins and three of my uncles: Wayne, Ron and Keith.

Justin (from left), Annette and Dan Gregor

Montgomery, Minnesota

Le Sueur County

63 cows

Tell us about your corn silage harvest plans for your dairy. We chop about 20 acres with a New Holland FP230 2-row chopper and forage boxes. We average about 25 tons per acre. Inoculant is used for one silo. We like to have 60% to 65% moisture.

When did you start or plan to start, and how far along are you on corn silage harvest? We have not started yet. We plan to start around Sept. 14.

What corn variety did you plant? We planted corn the first week in May. We use 100- to 107-day Enogen corn from Golden Harvest.

What challenges arose during the growing season or while chopping? It was dry when we planted the corn. Then, it came up uneven in a couple of alfalfa fields we tilled this spring.

How is the silage stored? We store our silage in silos. We have three we put our corn silage in: a 14-by-40, a 16-by-45 and an 18-by-45.

What is the biggest change you have made to corn silage harvest that has benefited the farm? A few years back, I bought a chopper with a processor. The processes silage is more digestible for the cows.

Tell us about your farm and family. We are a second-generation registered Holstein dairy operation. We milk 63 cows in a tiestall barn. We farm 270 acres of land which consists of corn, alfalfa and soybeans.

Bryce Huitink

Huitink Dairy LLC

Newkirk, Iowa

Sioux County

100 cows

Tell us about your corn silage harvest plans for your dairy. We are a smaller dairy operation. We plan on chopping 30 acres of our own corn, and we are going to buy 15 acres of corn from a neighbor down the road. We co-own a self-propelled chopper, bagger and wagons. We are able to get all of the silage put up on our own time. It is usually a family affair, along with a hired person to help haul loads to the bagger. We use an inoculant from Pioneer on the corn; it is put on by the chopper.

When did you start or plan to start, and how far along are you in corn silage harvest? We started chopping Aug. 27 after we brought some corn in Aug. 21 to get tested at our local co-op who had a burn down day for the local farmers. We were able to finish up on the 31st with all the silage for our farm. We also do some custom work that we were able to get done before Labor Day weekend rain.

What corn variety did you plant? We planted a 113-day corn from Pioneer. The number of it was P13544v. It was planted in early May.

What challenges arose during the growing season or while chopping? We received good rains early in the season, but other than that, it was a dry and hot year. The rain in early July helped get the corn through the summer. During harvest, we had a few things break on the wagons, but that is going to happen with any harvest. Other than those few things, it was a really good harvest.

How is silage stored? We store all of our haylage and corn silage in bags. We have a 10-foot wide bagger and usually do a 250-foot or 300-foot long bag.

What is the biggest change you have made to corn silage harvest that has benefited the farm? We really haven’t changed much over the years. We have always had a self-propelled chopper because we feel we are able to get to the corn at the right time with the right moisture for the cows and preserve good feed for the year. If you don’t have good feed, your cows are not going to do well.

Tell us about your farm/family. We have a 100-cow dairy by Newkirk, Iowa. It is a family-run operation with my dad, Harlan, and mom, Nelva, and myself. We raise all our own heifers on site as well. We milk in an eight-stanchion parlor. The cows live in a free stall barn and have a dirt lot to go outside if it is not too muddy. Dad operates all of the day-to-day operations, while Mom and I both have off-the-farm jobs but still help milk every day when we can. We are working on transitioning the dairy to me as well.

Mike Robers

Exeland, Wisconsin

Sawyer County

420 cows

Tell us about your corn silage harvest plans for your dairy. We normally chop about 350 acres, but this year, due to the poor crop, we chopped 520 before we got the bunker full. It has no grain, just the stalks and leaves, so it is not good feed and, unfortunately, if you have poor feed, you are not going to get any milk unless you spend a bunch of money. With the price of milk, it does not make sense to spend $2 to make a buck. I am thinking our average was about 15 tons to the acre, maybe 16. We generally run between 27 and 29 tons. Last fall, we bought a used 650 New Holland self-propelled chopper with a 10-row head. It came with a hay head, too. That’s been the biggest change in our crop harvesting. We used to have corn silage custom done, but we can now do it in-house. There are six of us involved in chopping corn when we are close to home. We have a tractor pushing on the pile and a tractor packing on the pile. Then, there is a guy running the chopper. We have two dump carts and a rear-load cart for when we are close to home. When we get farther away from home, we hire in one or two more trucks to speed things up so we can keep up better. We use Forage Mate inoculant.

When did you start or plan to start, and how far along are you on corn silage harvest? We started chopping Aug. 21 and finished Aug. 31.

What corn variety did you plant? We planted Golden Harvest; we started planting May 4 and finished May 14. We did a pre-emerge spray. We had to come back and spray some twice but had decent weed control. There were a few spots where we had a few weeds, but weed control was generally good. We usually chisel plow manure in, and we then field finish in the spring ahead of the corn planter and plant. We have done cover crops on our corn silage ground, but last year, that turned out to be a flop because we did not get any rain last fall, either. I am pretty sure we will try cover crops again this year because I am sure there is going to be a lot of nitrogen left in the ground due to the fact we had a poor corn crop. We fertilized for 170-bushel corn or almost 30-ton corn silage, and we only got half that, so there has to be nitrogen sitting out there. We want to try and tie that up this fall yet, if we get any rain.

What challenges arose during the growing season or while chopping? The biggest challenge we faced was the poor quality, not having any grain and low tonnage. We had to chop almost twice as much to fill the bunker with poor-quality forage.

How is the silage stored? We have a bunker that is about 100 feet by 200 feet, with 12-foot sidewalls. We typically harvest about 9,000 tons of corn silage.

What is the biggest change you have made to corn silage harvest that has benefited the farm? The biggest change would be purchasing the chopper.

Tell us about your farm and family. We farm with our son, Dan, and his family. We crop about 950 acres total and milk 420 cows. We ship our milk to Mullins Cheese.

Brent Havlik

Norwalk, Wisconsin

Monroe County

56 cows

Tell us about your corn silage harvest plans for your dairy. We plant between 40 and 50 acres of corn for silage each year. We like to hire a custom operator to come in and do it. We’re a small farm, so we understand that they have bigger clients, and we can’t expect them to drop everything to come take care of us. It’s a timing game. Otherwise, we have a pull-type chopper and a 2-row head and three boxes so we can get it done ourselves. My dad and I have made corn silage for our farm in the past. He’ll run the chopper, and I’ll do the hauling. We’re hoping to get around 18 tons per acre this year. The rich ground is really good, and we have some bottom ground that got a lot of moisture early on.

When did you start or plan to start, and how far along are you on corn silage harvest? With the dry weather we’ve had recently, it’ll creep up on us in a hurry. We’ll try to make it the third week of September.

What corn variety did you plant? We tried a couple of different varieties this year. We had some Viking and some Sun Prairie. We usually plant during the third or fourth week of May, depending on the weather.

What challenges arose during the growing season or while chopping? On July 2, we got a pretty good flood here. It was six inches of rain in one night, and there’s a lot of corn that had a lot of water on it. The only fear I have now is when we get out there, what’s going to be washed out into the field; what got left behind, or am I going to hit a log? That has me a little nervous. Otherwise, I was shocked at how well the corn came out of all that moisture.

How is the silage stored? We fill a silo and a half. The silo we fill all the way is a 12-by-60-foot stave silo, and then we’ll fill the 16-by-60-foot stave silo halfway. We will also put up a 9-by-150-foot bag of corn silage as well.

What is the biggest change you have made to corn silage harvest that has benefited the farm? The biggest change we’ve made was moving to using custom operators to help us and doing it in a timely fashion. We started using custom operators about three years ago. My chopper doesn’t have a processor on it, so it can get strung out, especially if I try to get the flats off first for myself. If I have some left up on the ridge that’s too dry, sometimes, by the time I get to it, it doesn’t have the moisture I like to have in it.

Tell us about your farm and family. I milk between 50 and 60 cows with my wife, Sarah. We have three grown kids, one who has a beef operation of his own. Dairying is something I still enjoy doing. It’s the way of life I like. There are some sacrifices you’re going to have to make, but I’m going to a job I truly enjoy doing.

Bill Erdmann (pictured with his daughter, Willow)

De Pere, Wisconsin

Brown County

70 cows

Tell us about your corn silage harvest plans for your dairy. We have 60 acres of corn for chopping. We use a New Holland FP240 with a 3-row corn head with four 18-foot wagons. We usually have at least three people involved with chopping, depending on how far we are hauling wagons. This year, we are going to be using Silo-King inoculant. We usually aim to average 20 tons of corn silage.

When did you start or plan to start, and how far along are you on corn silage harvest? We haven't started corn silage yet but think it's going to be a couple of weeks.

What corn variety did you plant? This year, we planted Becks hybrid 4672 for silage. It's a 96-day corn we planted May 30. We use pop-up fertilizer with Xyway fungicide in furrow and side dress later in the year.

What challenges arose during the growing season or while chopping? This growing season, it was cool and dry in early May and then got wet. At the end of May/beginning of June, the weather was perfect, but it got wet in the middle of June and held the corn back a little.

How is the silage stored? We store all corn silage in upright silos. We utilize three silos: a 24-by-75-foot, a 20-by-80-foot and an 18-by-55-foot. Moisture needs to be in the 60% to 55% range to have the best results and very limited juicing.

What is the biggest change you have made to corn silage harvest that has benefited the farm? The biggest change recently has been speed hitches on wagons. They make a big difference on the long days, not having to pick up wagon poles and hop on and off the tractor.

Tell us about your farm and family. Our farm has been in the family since 1880. I am the fifth generation at Erdmann Family Dairy LLC with my brother, Tom Jr. We farm with our dad, Tom Sr. We have a freestall barn and a milking parlor that was installed in 1978. We ship our milk to Sartori Cheese in Antigo. We farm 400 acres of crops, raising corn, alfalfa, soybeans and winter wheat.

Jesse Mackinson

Chenoa, Illinois

Livingston County

170 cows

Tell us about your corn silage harvest plans for your dairy? We expect to chop anywhere from 100-110 acres. This year, it will be closer to 110 acres because we had a lot of water damage, and I don’t think we’re going to have as much tonnage per acre as years past. I’m seeing a lot of variability in the same field this year. We could have a range in tonnage between 10 to 28 tons per acre in the same field. It’s pretty flat in our area, and if water sat, we’ll have spots with 2–5-acre holes in one field where there’s no corn at all, or if corn did grow and survive the wetness, it’s only 3-4 feet tall. Then we could go 24 rows over and have corn that’s 12 feet tall and looks amazing. We use a 6-row CLAAS 850 chopper, H&S storage wagons, a Versa bagger, and we also fill silos. We use dry form Silo King inoculant. My brother and I and one hired man do the harvest, and we bring in the occasional retired dairy farmer down the road who will help as well. We also do 75-80 acres of custom corn silage harvesting for local beef farmers. 

When did you start or plan to start and how far along are you on corn silage harvest? We got rolling around Aug. 25. I wish I had started five days sooner because once the heat wave hit, corn dried out extremely fast. We’re almost done. We have two bags left to fill, and that corn will probably be ready by Sept. 18. It’s still pretty green.

What corn variety did you plant? We plant a mixture, including DEKALB and Master’s Choice varieties, among others. Most of our silage corn was planted the last week of April. We double crop some acres. We’ll spring chop triticale and rye and then double crop in soybeans and put in silage behind that, which is why some corn is not ready to chop yet. Most of our corn is fertilized with cow manure, and we’ll add a little 32 on there for the nitrogen. We’ll also put on a general herbicide to control weeds. We keep it pretty simple in our area when it comes to corn and bean crops.

What challenges arose during the growing season or while chopping? Chopping has gone relatively smooth for the most part. We’ve been lucky so far and not had too many breakdowns. As for the growing season, my grandpa and dad always told me the same thing: Every year is different. And this year has definitely been different. The whole month of June, it rained every other day. We didn’t get the haybine out of the shed that entire month. You learn a little something different every year and try to plan the best you can for next year.

How is the silage stored? We fill five 10- by 200-foot bags and two 20- by 60-foot silos with corn silage.

What is the biggest change you have made to corn silage harvest that has benefited the farm? Switching to a self-propelled forage harvester — without a doubt. We used to have a pull type, and it’s just a night-and-day difference with power and speed. I’m biased to CLAAS machines. They’re easy to work on and maintain, which I like a lot. It’s a reliable yet simple design. 

Tell us about your farm and family. My brother, Elvon, and I are partners at M&S Dairy LLC. Our parents built the current location in 1980, and Elvon and I added on. We milk in a swing-12 parlor renovated out of an old 60-cow tiestall barn and ship our milk to Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc. We farm about 450 acres. Cows are housed in a sand-bedded freestall barn. We have older facilities, but we do the best to maintain them and keep them as modern as possible. Simplicity and modernization go hand in hand. That’s the key to staying profitable and having a successful business.