Heavy rain in the forecast could put the remainder of Michigan’s silage crop in jeopardy.
According to the USDA, 71 percent of the crop has been harvested. The National Weather Service is calling for 4 inches of rain or more in some areas of the state.
Dann Bolinger, Pioneer dairy specialist, says the remaining crop in central and northern Michigan could see challenges.
“Obviously getting in the field will be difficult and depending on what the maturity of the crop is, there may be some corn that gets beyond the optimal timing for harvest and get a little too dry for bagging and fermentation and losing quality as a result of this potential delay,” he says.
Some farmers are seeing record or near-record yields. However, Bolinger has noticed the fiber digestibility isn’t all there for two reasons.
“Part of that is the optimal growing conditions and the other piece of that equation is in the areas where tar spot has been significant, we’ve had some premature death of some plants,” he says. “There is some genetic variation that growers need to be aware of between the vulnerability of corn hybrids to tar spot and its impact on quality.”
There aren’t any known toxins concerned with tar spot, but it is related to plant quality.
“It could reduce starch content, it can certainly reduce fiber digestibility if it gets more advanced,” says Bolinger. “The other piece is if we have too rapid of a dry down from that disease, it may be a challenge to get the crop in at an adequate moisture to put up with a good fermentation and the packing that’s necessary to accomplish it.”
Bolinger says outside of these issues, the 2021 growing season was phenomenal. As growers are looking ahead to 2022, he says to look for opportunities to increase overall plant health.
“That gives us more forgiveness and flexibility in our harvest window and maintains quality better through the harvest window,” he says. “The two main tools that we have available to address those sorts of things are looking at different hybrid genetics as well as considerations towards fungicides—not only to control leaf diseases, but also just to increase overall plant health. [It will] enable us to have a little bit wider harvest window and the opportunity to capture more starch and tonnage through the maturation of the plant.”
