Corn

Corn silage is a crop grown widely by dairy producers to provide dairy cattle with a high-energy, very digestible source of feed. Silage can remove large amounts of available nutrients from the soil, especially nitrogen. Corn silage production can affect the fertilizer management practices on a field, particularly the amount of nitrogen that should be applied.

Drought-stressed corn for grain or silage does not automatically signal disaster, as both crops can provide high quality forage for ruminant animals. Drought-stressed corn or corn that is unpollinated will produce little or no grain crop for the crop farmer to sell, but dairy producers can use the unpollinated corn for silage. On a dry matter basis, the drought-stressed corn will be approximately equal in feeding value to normal corn silage.

It’s late spring and corn has emerged. For much of the state, heavy rains have continued for several days, bringing flooding to low lying areas and causing ponding in fields. In this scenario, farmers are faced with the question of whether their corn will recover, or should they proceed with replanting.