More in SILAGE

Corn grain and silage in the drought-stricken Corn Belt may contain aflatoxin, a toxic carcinogen for livestock, warn Kiersten Wise and Charles Woloshuk, Purdue Extension plant pathologists....More

Drought-damaged corn can make good feed when chopped for silage, but growers tend to har-vest it when it’s too wet, resulting in poor fermentation, warns Keith Johnson, Purdue Extension forage specialist....More

Here’s a quick guide to the differences between corn and forage sorghum, courtesy of Brent Bean, Texas AgriLife Extension agronomist, and colleagues....More

Soybean plants have a remarkable ability to fill empty spaces, so maximum yield can be achieved with a minimum amount of seed, say researchers at McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA. But they point out that low seeding rates result in thicker stems, reducing quality....More

The return on investing in silage inoculants could be higher than usual this year, suggests Rich Muck....More

Jonathan Gaskins, Columbia, KY, has harvested wheat for silage – to feed his lactating dairy cows – two to three weeks ahead of schedule. Usually, says Gaskins, he wouldn’t be in the field until the last week of April or first week of May. Yet his 110 wheat acres were ready to cut April 3 and he finished April 11....More

Storing silage in bunkers or piles – while maintaining high quality with little waste at feedout – is an art involving some mathematics, says Brian Holmes, University of Wisconsin biological systems engineer....More

The growing season for alfalfa is off to an extremely fast start in most of the Upper Midwest. Yet growers are concerned about possible frost damage....More

Forages are maturing two to three weeks ahead of schedule in Kentucky, and many will need to be harvested soon for optimum feed quality, says Ray Smith, University of Kentucky Extension forage specialist....More

Forage contests are beauty contests. They make you appreciate high-test forages but don’t tell the whole story: for example, whether the crop yielded well, the farmer had lodging problems, or whether it produced a lot of milk. But forage contests do focus on something important: forage quality analysis. We need to know how to harvest forages for profitability and quality beforewe see what happens in the milk tank. Fortunately, forage contests use a good dose of science....More

“We have been telling people for years that thin layers are important to get good silage densities,” says Brian Holmes, University of Wisconsin ag engineer....More