By Brock Skov brocks@agpartners.net

It’s the time of year when we’re thinking about chopping corn silage! Where did the summer go?  Last year at this time we were chopping, or at least trying to as field conditions in most areas were wet, but the corn was still maturing and getting a bit dry in some situations. The question this year is, when will it be ready to chop? I don’t have the answer but we were able to establish a potential time frame with the burn down day in Pine Island. There were 155 samples tested with the average moisture being 75.8%, which we know is still too wet. The corn was just barely starting to dent in most cases. Most of the corn that was brought in looked healthy without a lot of disease present. I am unable to tell you if it was treated with a fungicide. The corn also didn’t show much for nutrient deficiencies, although we did see some nitrogen deficiencies in a few of the plants.

Corn can lose up to 1% moisture per day with good temperatures and some wind, the ten-day forecast temps look to be hovering in the low 70’s, with night time temperatures being in the upper 40’s to low 50’s. This will slow things down a bit, probably losing 0.5% per day, so our advice is to look again early next week to see how things have progressed.

If you didn’t have a chance to bring a sample to be tested at the burn down day or you want to check it again next week you can still bring them in to be tested. Contact your nutritionist and/or agronomist and they can help you get that done. Please have a safe fall harvest.