By Shelby Gruss
It may seem odd to start talking about corn silage preparation for next year when you’ve only just begun feeding this year’s silage. However, now is the perfect time to begin planning for next season.
Good silage doesn’t happen by chance — it starts long before the first seed is planted. Here are key considerations to keep in mind as you plan your corn silage strategy:
Soil health and fertility
Corn silage removes a significant number of nutrients from the soil, as both stover and grain are harvested. At 65% moisture, each ton of corn silage removes about 3.5 pounds of phosphorus pentoxide and 8 pounds of potassium oxide. At a yield of 25 tons per acre, that’s 87.5 pounds of phosphorus pentoxide and 200 pounds of potassium oxide removed per acre. Maintaining a robust fertility program is essential to support high-yielding silage crops.
Regular soil testing is a critical step to ensure adequate nutrient levels. Corn silage is often rotated with legumes such as alfalfa, which can provide valuable nitrogen (N) credits. Be sure to account for these N credits when planning fertility inputs.
Additionally, many silage operations coincide with high levels of manure availability due to livestock presence. A solid manure management plan is crucial to prevent nutrient runoff. Incorporating cover crops can help retain soil nutrients and reduce runoff risks.
Be mindful of potassium (K) levels, especially with repeated heavy manure applications. Excessive K can result in high-K silage, which may be undesirable for certain livestock diets.
Silage inventory
Taking stock of your silage inventory now is critical for planning next spring. Knowing how much silage you currently have will help you calculate how much is needed for the coming year. Create a forage budget that tracks yields, feed usage based on ration formulations and your current inventory.
Maintaining historical data on field performance and yields can help you estimate the acreage needed for silage production. This proactive approach will ensure you have enough forage to meet your operation’s needs without over-allocating resources.
Hybrid selection
Selecting the right hybrid is a cornerstone of effective silage planning. Work closely with your agronomist and nutritionist to choose hybrids that align with your goals and growing conditions. Often, the best hybrid is not a single option but a mix tailored to different fields or feeding goals.
For dual-purpose fields that may be used for silage or grain depending on the season, choose a hybrid with both silage and grain potential. For fields exclusively designated for silage, silage-specific hybrids may be a better fit.
Here are two hybrid selection factors to consider:
- Maturity. Longer-maturity hybrids often produce higher yields because they have more time to develop. Silage varieties typically have a relative maturity rating five to 10 days longer than grain hybrids for the same area. However, in regions where custom harvest crews or double-cropping are factors, shorter-maturity hybrids can help stagger the harvest window and allow for timely planting of a subsequent crop, such as small grains.
- Quality traits. Silage quality directly affects livestock performance. Consider hybrids with desirable traits such as crude protein (CP) and fiber digestibility (NDFd). Even though corn silage is not fed for its CP content, higher CP levels can reduce the need for supplemental protein, lowering feed costs.
One of the most important aspects of corn silage is fiber digestibility. Balanced fiber content is important to rumen function. Higher digestibility leads to higher intake and overall animal performance, which positively influences milk production and weight gain. This also can be influenced by the availability of supplementation and land availability.
Traits such as brown midrib (BMR) can enhance fiber digestibility but may come with trade-offs such as increased lodging risk or reduced yield. Evaluate hybrids for overall metrics such as milk per ton and milk per acre to balance yield and quality.
Don’t overlook agronomic traits such as standability, pest resistance, drought tolerance and drydown speed. These can significantly influence your hybrid choice and, ultimately, your silage’s success. This is an important discussion between your agronomist and nutritionist.
The bottom line
Planning for next year’s corn silage begins now. While many additional in-season and harvest decisions are essential for successful silage production — such as harvest timing (one of the most critical in-season decisions) — laying the groundwork through proper fertility management, accurate inventory tracking and thoughtful hybrid selection ensures a successful silage season. By addressing these factors early, you set up your operation for strong yields, high-quality forage and optimized livestock performance.
Gruss is an Iowa State University Extension forage specialist.