Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Corn silage

Didn't think some of the bottom fields would dry out enough to get the equipment in, but a stretch of dry weather made it happen.







Back at the farm filling in the pit silo.

Nice!

I like that silage shooting out in the top pic!

Roundoak, it's getting to be that time of year!


Glad the ground firmed up enough for your crew.


Some guys just started chopping corn around here last week. Our little 45 acre patch could still use some time but I imagine it'll be done before the end of the month.


What do you guys usually average tonnage-wise? This year we will probably be down around 20 ton or less.


The front end of that 4650 manages to stay 'afloat' okay?

Sam, we figure to average 20-21 ton/acre.

The 4650 does plow more than ideal, but gets the job done.

Lookin good, always feels great when you get through corn season.

We're probably at least a week or more out here. The wet summer really held things up. Heard they aren't really chopping down in Lancaster yet.

I always liked to feed it to dairy cows. It made good milk and kept the cows about 1/2 drunk all winter.

Unfamiliar with that. I'm guessing that is stalk, leaves, and corn ears all chopped together then in an airtight pit?

Pretty much. The correct name is Ensilage although very few use it. miles

We need to get started on chopping corn here. Rain Monday delayed things.

Looking very good there. What are you feeding it to?

Is that stuff still green ? It looks like it in the picture. Ours will be burnt up by August. They started picking a month ago and just finished a week to a week and a half ago. The grow time on corn in this area is sure short compared to what it was in Indiana. I would be up in a tree on opening day of bow season which was oct 1 and they would just be starting to pick.

We finished filling our little pit silo just a while ago. I've found over the years, the last packing with a tractor, and duals leaves the top smoother, less spoilage.

What's the consistency?

Big as kernels? Kernels plus fine stalks? All fine?

Dave, are you asking what corn silage looks like? Hmmm. The finer the cut, the better. That is easier said than done however.

It' s been many years, but when I was a youngster, we planted quite a bit of sweet corn and field corn. When the sweet corn was ready and we would cut it ( by hand) and mix with alfalfa we baled before it dried and chopped both together it. I believed the chopper was a hammer mill (might be mistaken) that had enough force that it also blew the mix into a vertical silo near the barn , not a trench silo. I think we planted the sweet corn because it matured earlier.

At the same time frame because the pasture was about done by mid July, we would cut two wagon loads a day by hand to feed to about 30 dairy cows.
As the field corn started to mature,but before it dried, we would chop some of it into the silo if it wasn't completely full.

Later years, the milk inspector made us stop using the vertical silo next to the barn and we had to use trench silo that was away from the barn where the diary cows were housed.That was real pain, taking the wagon up to the trench, shoveling ensilage on it, hauling back to the barn shoveling it in a wheel barrow and hauling it into the cows. There were no front in loaders back then.

Part of the ration fed out to beef cows and some dairy heifers.

The upper 3/4 of the plant is green, leaves show some brown and husks dry tan color. Total plant moisture should be in the 60-65% range at that point.

Particle size varies as you never get a standard size in the chopping process. Finer the better to help in compaction.

Been some years, but was thinking closer to 55%. Hard dent stage of the kernel. The wetter it is the more seepage you get and it retards fermentation a bit. I've heard of old timers catching the seepage from the old stave silos and making liquor out of it. From the smell I don't think I'd be inclined to try it.
As for chop size, nutritionist told us that larger is better for the cow, smaller packs and ferments better.