Harvesting very green corn for silage this season

Chad Lee and Carrie Knott, Extension Agronomists, University of Kentucky
Donna Amaral-Phillips, Extension Dairy Nutritionist, University of Kentucky

Farmers are chopping silage at the normal time on the calendar and commenting on the very green corn in the fields. Silage corn was planted late this spring and that delays corn development. The summer was cooler and cloudier than normal, which also delays corn development. Finally, there is a lot of biomass in the corn this year, so drydown may take a little longer. Corn chopping may need to be delayed several weeks this season to get corn to the proper moisture.