Silage

Walk fields with your agronomist and talk about investing in fungicide applications to maintain plant health. We’ve observed an uptick in fiber digestibility the last year, which I think is partly attributable to improved plant health.

Take note of the tasseling date and then sit down with your calendar to circle the date range 40 to 60 days after the average tasseling date for your fields. Corn historically has been ready for silage around 45 days post tasseling; however, I’ve learned from Todd Schaumburg and other experienced agronomists that better plant health has widened this window out. More on that later. Start intensively monitoring corn with your agronomist during this 20-day window later in the season.

The sticker shock of feed prices have been a sucker punch for dairy farmers over the last year, and there doesn’t seem to be much relief in sight. Elevated feed costs have forced some producers to grow more of their own forages this season, including corn silage. While prioritizing growing quality forage is a must, proper feed ingredient storage is equally important, especially during the hot summer months.

More and more dairies are using drone technology to measure the size of their forage piles and more accurately estimate the amount of feed they have in inventory for the next year. The technology is enabling dairies to get within just a few days of predicting when they may run out of feed. That could be particularly helpful to others this year in drought-stricken areas where forage tonnage has been lighter than usual. A drone and cloud-computed data calculations for forage pile measurement is replacing previous estimation methods. That includes measurement wheels, surveying equipment, hand calculations or just broad percentage reductions from the total forage tonnage harvested.

When it comes to silages and drive-over pile building, Peter Robinson, a UC – Davis extension specialist, believes there is a preference for dairy producers to leave silage oversight to the custom operators who come in and build the piles.