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Get Ready to Harvest an Uneven Corn Crop
Posted Sep 8, 11 in WNYCMA News
GET READY TO HARVEST AN UNEVEN CORN CROP!
The wacky weather of this spring and summer has produced a very uneven corn crop. Planting alone took over a month for most farms, in some cases two. It would be easy if we could classify all of our corn out there in one of two categories: May planted or June planted. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The wet May hurt emergence on many fields, some more than others. The dry/hot weather of July stressed many fields, some more than others. A lot of farms are planning to harvest corn for grain due to high commodity prices, some more than others. This variability will require a lot more planning than other years to maximize the crop that is there. The following are some things to consider before you fire up the chopper:
Do You Have Enough Forage?
By Julia Knight, Summer Intern
As the summer season is coming to a close you may be asking yourself “Do I have enough forage?” With delayed planting due to rainy weather, and a dry spell in the month of July, crops may not look exactly like you would like to see at this point in time. Now is the time to take current inventories and to make a strategic plan for the fall.
It is a good idea to work with your nutritionist in taking inventories and to come up with how much forage you will need. If it is suspected that you will be short on forage using the current ration, consult with your nutritionist to see if it is feasible to alter the amount of forage fed in order to prevent running out in the future. This may also be a good opportunity to get rid of non-productive cows and heifers that will not make good use of valuable forages. Forage inventories will help determine how much corn should be harvested as silage as opposed to grain and whether it will be necessary to buy additional forages in the coming months.
It is relatively easy to measure how much you have in storage, however one of the most difficult things to account for is how much corn is out there to be harvested. There are many different ways of calculating corn yields such as using moisture content, corn ear weight, corn ear length, or harvested area. You must also remember to account for feed shrinkage and loss from harvesting to feeding. For further information on determining corn yields refer to the following article written by Tom Frederes.
There is no doubt that it has been a challenging year for farmers. Many farmers already suspect that they will be short on feed, yet for others having an excess of forages this year may mean extra cash in the bank. Getting a jump start on calculating inventories and forage needs will allow you to plan ahead and avoid the big “uh-oh” when you run out of feed. As always, feel free to involve your crop consultant.
What Will Your Corn Yield? Estimating Silage and Grain Yields
By Thomas Frederes
A challenge to estimating corn yields this year is that there is about as much variability within a lot of fields as there is from field to field. However, there are several methods available for estimating silage and grain yields. When I estimate yields while staging corn in the fall, more than anything, I try to be consistent from field to field and farm to farm. If you are evaluating your corn in the fall, pick a method and stick with it. When you are evaluating different hybrids being consistent in your methodology is more important than actual yields. However, if you are trying to chop just enough corn to meet your annual silage needs and want to bypass some fields to be left for grain, one of the more accurate methods should be used, i.e. weighing plants within an area. The following are a few of the methods that can be used for estimating yields:
Corn Silage Yield Estimation Methods
Based on Plant Height If little or no grain is expected due to extreme drought or premature death (frost?), a rough pre-harvest estimate of yield can be made by assuming that one ton of 30 percent dry matter silage can be obtained for each foot of plant height (excluding the tassel). On this basis, “waist-high” corn 4-5 feet tall will yield about 4 to 5 tons per acre of silage at 30 percent dry matter. (This is assuming a relatively normal population.)
An extension of this method can give you a very rough yield estimate of eared corn silage. It is often said that the ear is half the weight in chopped corn silage. Using this assumption, to estimate the yield of well-eared corn silage, multiply the height in feet by two. Thus 4-5 foot tall corn with a decent ear would be 8-10 ton corn silage. Adjustments can be made up or down based on ear size, stalk diameter, and population. Again, this is a real rough estimate.
Cut and Bundle A more accurate way to estimate yield is to actually hand harvest some plants. Find several consistent areas within a field and measure 17’ 5” of row. (This is 1/1,000th of an acre for 30” rows) Cut plants at chopping height and collect all of the plants from this area. You can stand stalks in a trash can and weigh them on a bathroom type scale or bundle them with a piece of twine and hang from a hanging scale. Take this weight in pounds, multiply it by 1,000 and then divide by 2,000. This will give you an estimated yield in tons per acre. Remember, this is at whatever moisture you cut it at. 20 ton of corn silage at 75% moisture does not equal 20 ton of corn silage at 65% moisture.
Example: 44 lbs weighed in 17’5” x 1,000 / 2,000 = 22 tons/acre
Corn Grain Yield Estimation Method
The Yield Component Method This was originally described by the University of Illinois many years ago and is based on the premise that one can estimate grain yield from estimates of the yield components that constitute grain yield. These yield components include number of ears per acre, number of kernel rows per ear, number of kernels per row, and weight per kernel. The first three yield components (ear number, kernel rows, kernels/row) are easily measured in the field.
Final weight per kernel obviously cannot be measured until the grain is mature (kernel black layer) and, realistically, at harvest moisture. Consequently, an average value for kernel weight, expressed as 85,000 kernels per 56 lb bushel, is used as a proverbial “fudge factor” in the yield estimation equation. The equation originally used a “fudge factor” of 90, but kernel size has increased as hybrids have improved over the years. Consequently, a “fudge factor” of 80 to 85 is a more realistic value to use today.
Crop uniformity greatly influences the accuracy of any yield estimation technique. The less uniform the field, the greater the number of samples that should be taken to estimate yield for the field. There is a fine line between fairly sampling disparate areas of the field and sampling randomly within a field so as not to unfairly bias the yield estimates up or down.
At each estimation site, measure off a length of row equal to 1/1000th acre. For 30-inch (2.5 feet) rows, this equals 17.4 feet.
TIP: For other row spacings, divide 43,560 by the row spacing (in feet) and then divide that result by 1000 (e.g., [43,560/2.5]/1000 = 17.4 ft).
Count and record the number of ears on the plants in the 1/1000th acre of row that you deem to be harvestable.
TIP: Do not count dropped ears or those on severely lodged plants unless you are confident that the combine header will be able to retrieve them.
For every fifth ear in the sample row, record the number of complete kernel rows per ear and average number of kernels per row. Then multiply each ear’s row number by its number of kernels per row to calculate the total number of kernels for each ear.
TIPS: Do not sample nubbins or obviously odd ears, unless they fairly represent the sample area. If row number changes from butt to tip (e.g., pinched ears due to stress), estimate an average row number for the ear. Don’t count the extreme butt or tip kernels, but rather begin and end where you perceive there are complete “rings” of kernels around the cob. Do not count aborted kernels. If kernel numbers are uneven among the rows of an ear, estimate an average value for kernel number per row.
Calculate the average number of kernels per ear by summing the values for all the sampled ears and dividing by the number of ears.
Example: For five sample ears with 480, 500, 450, 600, and 525 kernels per ear, the average number of kernels per ear would be (480 + 500 + 450 + 600 + 525) divided by 5 = 511.
Estimate the yield for each site by multiplying the ear number (Step 2) by the average number of kernels per ear (Step 4) and then dividing that result by the number below that best represents the kernel set and grain fill conditions this year for the field whose yield you are estimating. The values below represent the range in numbers of kernels (thousands) in a 56# market bushel.
Table 1Kernel numbers per bu. relative to growing conditions during the grain fill period
(thousands)
Excellent 75 to 80
Average 85 to 90
Poor 95 to 105
Example: Let’s say you counted 30 harvestable ears at the first thousandth-acre sampling site. Let’s also assume that the average number of kernels per ear, based on sampling every 5th ear in the sampling row, was 511. Let’s also assume that growing conditions during grain fill were average.
The estimated yield for that site would (30 x 511) divided by 85, which equals 180 bu./ac.
Repeat the procedure throughout the field as many times as you deem to be representative. Calculate the average yield for all the sites to estimate the yield for the field.
Remember that this method for estimating pre-harvest grain yield in corn indeed provides only an estimate. Since kernel size and weight will vary depending on hybrid and environment, this yield estimator should only be used to determine “ballpark” grain yields. Yield will be overestimated in a year with poor grain fill conditions (e.g., low kernel size and weight from a drought year) and underestimated in a year with excellent grain fill conditions (e.g., larger kernel size and weight from non-stress grain fill periods).
Recognize that the Yield Component Method for estimating corn grain yield is probably only accurate within plus or minus 30 bushels of the actual yield. Obviously, the more ears you sample within a field, the more accurately you will “capture” the variability of yield throughout the field. Use the yield estimates obtained by this method for general planning purposes only.
(from article by Professor R.L. Nielsen, Purdue University)
The Value of Standing Corn Silage
By Tom Frederes
Helping farmers arrive at a “fair price” for standing corn silage is one of the last things a crop consultant wants to get involved in, especially when the two parties are both clients; it’s a no-win situation. However, there are several methods available on the web that can help to calculate a fair price. I’ve provided a link to two spreadsheets available on the University of Wisconsin-Extension Forage Resources website. There are several other spreadsheets and articles on this site about forage production that are worth checking out.
This MS Excel spreadsheet allows you to calculate values of several different grains and forages as compared to the current price of corn and soybean meal.
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/dairynutrition/documents/FEEDVALComparativeweb.xls
This MS Excel spreadsheet is the best one I have seen. It not only allows you to estimate a value for a corn silage crop, but also allows you to compare silage versus grain harvesting costs.
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/crops/uwforage/UWEXCornSilagePricingDecisionAid%208.19.2010.xls
You can use all of the spreadsheets and formulas you want, but I agree with the following determining factors that Everett Thomas recently stated in the August Miner Institute Farm Report:
1. Alternative uses for the crop. Will it mature for grain, and if so are custom combining and drying available? This could cause the seller to drive a harder bargain when selling his crop for silage.
2. Corn silage supply in the area. If other farmers in the area also have standing corn for sale, prices will probably be lower. This has more influence than the price of corn on the CBOT.
3. Maturity. Will the corn be over 30% DM or still in the milk or dough stage? Immature corn at the time of harvest should be discounted in price.
4. Yield. It’s cheaper to chop a 20-ton/acre crop than a 10 ton/acre one since much of the power requirement of an SP chopper is used just to run it.
5. Crop quality. Guess which crop will make more milk per ton, a 20-ton one or a 10 ton one.
Will Your Corn Make it For Grain?
By Dan Steward
A lot of corn was planted in early to mid June that was intended for grain. It seemed like a long shot at the time, but the warm weather of June and July really helped it catch up on maturity. It also looks like August temperatures are going to be somewhat above average. So has the late-planted corn caught up enough to make it for grain?
Dr. Bill Cox at Cornell has long used the guideline that corn for grain in New York State should be silking by July 24th +/- a week, and that corn for silage should be silking by August 1st +/- a week. This is based on a 100 day hybrid needing 1,050 GDD’s from the time it silks to black layer formation, a 95 day hybrid about 1,000 and a 90 day hybrid about 950 GDD. The 30-year average for growing degree-days in August and September in Western New York is about 1,050 in warmer areas and 900 in cooler areas. Are these still appropriate guidelines to use for this year?
Dr. Cox said the following on August 21st, “Based on the data, I would predict that 95-100 day hybrids that were in the silking stage by August 1 will make it to black-layer formation at warmer locations. At cooler sites, 85-90 day hybrids should make it. For hybrids that did not attain the silking stage until August 5th, 90-95 day hybrids have a good shot at making black layer formation at warmer sites, but hybrids would have to be 80-85 day in length to make it at cooler locations, provided we have normal GDD from here on out and no killing frost before October 1.
So there is hope for hybrids that attained the silking stage by August 1- 5th to make black-layer formations as long as the correct hybrid maturity was planted. I would be less bullish for any hybrids that were in the silking stage after August 5th. “
Other Corn Silage Reminders
By Tom Frederes
- Crop consultants will be checking maturities in cornfields over the next several weeks as we’ve done in the past. If you want some fields looked at right away and/or ground up for moisture estimates, don’t hesitate to call.
- Corn silage moisture will dry down approximately 0.5% per day during “normal” September weather. The range is typically 0.4% - 0.7% a day and different varieties certainly can follow different dry down patterns.
- Also remember that corn will rehydrate. A few years ago after a prolonged dry period, I shredded some corn at a dairy on a Friday morning. Over the weekend the area received 2” of rain. That Tuesday I checked the same fields again and the samples were 2% wetter on average. This observation is similar to what some researchers have seen.
WNYCMA Annual Meeting
Posted Feb 25, 11 in WNYCMA News
The WNYCMA annual meeting was held yesterday, February 24th at Hidden Valley Animal Adventure in Varysburg NY.
Keven Ganoe and Dave Balbian of the Central New York Dairy and Field Crops Team spoke about Precision Feed Management, Decreasing Feed Purchasing and Improving Profitability.
Robert Brower the AEA/CNMP Specialist from Soil and Water Conservation spoke about Updated CAFO Regulations
Gary Bergstrom Professor of Plant Pathology at Cornell University spoke about:Management of Corn and Wheat Diseases: Where do fungicides fit?
Dave Shearing and Nate Herendeen spoke about How to deal with High Residue Crops Within a Zone-Till System: Mechanical, Nutrients and Pests.
Congratulations to Kevin Nedrow and Eric Dziedic on their election to the WNYCMA board and thank you to Hidden Valley Animal Adventures for providing and excellent venue for our meeting.
WNYCMA Annual Meeting
Posted Feb 25, 11 in WNYCMA News
The WNYCMA annual meeting was held yesterday, February 24th at Hidden Valley Animal Adventure in Varysburg NY
