The author is a partner in Orrson Custom Farming Ltd., Apple Creek, Ohio. He currently serves as president of the U.S. Custom Harvesters Inc...

Corn silage harvest presents a relatively narrow window to optimize feed quality.Pull the trigger too early and you have a wet mess that is sour and seeps. Pull it too late and molds can develop and digestibility is lower. Either way, corn silage yields are reduced and cows do not perform as well...

In years when early-season monsoon rains cause delayed planting of corn, there is often more than the usual amount of late-maturing standing corn that gets sold for silage harvest...

One of the most often discussed, misunderstood and argued topics in the forage production feed chain is the use of silage inoculants...

I think, but am not entirely sure, that Congressional Republicans and Democrats would agree on the importance of water for agriculture. For folks in the business of crop production, there is nothing to debate. Those two little hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to oxygen are often the cause of extreme emotional highs and lows. ...

With the wet conditions and challenges in making dry hay this year, there’s been a lot of discussion and ink dedicated to making baleage. Round and square bale silage certainly has become as c...

In 1930 there were nearly 40 million acres of oats harvested for grain in the United States. By contrast, the most recent Census of Agriculture reported that the nation's farmers harvested jus...

Many regions of the U.S. (sans West Coast) have received copious amounts of rain following the start of what was a pretty ideal early planting season. ...

Wide windrows are routinely recommended for hay silage, but a drive through farm country during forage harvest season still finds many narrow windrows. Narrow windrows represent “Goldilocks management” with the top of the windrow getting too dry, the bottom remaining too wet and only the middle getting “just right.” ...

Twin row has emerged as an approach to boost yields without high equipment-switching costs given twin-row compatibility with postemergence herbicide or side-dress nitrogen applications and existing combine heads...