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Losing BMR corn will require corn management adjustments

The recent announcement from Corteva saying they would phase out BMR silage corn varieties has dairy producers wondering what to do after the product is no longer available.

University of Wisconsin Extension researcher Luis Ferraretto tells Brownfield brown midrib or BMR corn has been a key tool to increase the fiber digestibility of forages.  Without other corn hybrids that have higher fiber digestibility, Ferraretto says producers can make up for some of the losses by adjusting the chop height for corn silage. “The reason why this could be a good option is because whenever you increase chop height, you are basically leaving a little bit more of that indigestible fiber in the field because a lot of the lignins are located in the bottom part of the plant.”

Ferraretto says increasing the chop height puts less silage in the bunk, but does help solve another problem. “If you work with BMR, you know that sometimes BMR have three to four percentage units lower starch concentration and increasing chop height, you actually increase a little bit your starch concentration because you are diluting the same amount of grain into less plant.”

Ferraretto says BMR also had its trade-offs with lower yield for higher feed values. “With BMR, you sacrifice some yield, sometimes 10-15 percent of the yield to get that better value, and I think with chop height, it will be exactly the same way.”

Ferraretto says he is currently working on a spreadsheet farmers can eventually use to compare chop heights and yields, and he’s optimistic that will be ready for release later this summer.

Ferraretto says chopping higher eliminates some water and lignin, improves starch concentration, and improves feed quality.  He says the ideal height for chopping corn silage will vary based on how rough the fields are.