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Corn silage harvest slow to begin in Minnesota

Corn silage harvest is beginning about two weeks behind normal for a south-central Minnesota farmer.

Rochelle Krusemark of Trimont says her family typically starts chopping corn around the end of August.

“But we had a cooler July and August, so the crop just isn’t maturing as fast.  It was too green or too wet.”

She tells Brownfield their ideal corn moisture for bagging is between 60 and 65 percent.

Recent warm weather has pushed crop development past milk stage to early dough, and harvest has begun.

“We have an older, smaller chopper, and we’re in 22 inch rows.  So we have a three-row head on the chopper (with) a kernel processor.  It chops up the corn and processes the kernels real nice, then we put (the silage) in the bag.  So it’s a little slower process.”

 

The latest USDA crop report says corn silage harvest in Minnesota is running more than a week behind average.