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Northwest Iowa | Pricing Drought Stressed Corn Silage
Pricing drought stressed corn silage in the field can be somewhat challenging. With "normal" corn silage producers oftentimes use the current price per bushel of corn grain times 8 - 9 to assess the price per ton of stored corn silage (i.e. if corn price is $4 /bu then corn silage is valued at $32 - 36/ton as fed). This might work well if the nutritive (energy/protein) value of the drought-stressed silage is similar to corn silage harvested under normal conditions. Dr. Bill Weiss et al. (2002) indicate that drought-stressed standing corn is worth at 73 – 90% of the economic value of normal corn silage (at the same dry matter content). But, due to many factors that can influence the quality of drought-stressed corn silage, a laboratory analysis of the whole plant is needed when pricing this forage. Table 2 shows the nutrient composition of 8 samples of fresh corn silage collected in South Dakota during the drought of 2012. Energy contents varied between 0.61 and 0.72 Mcal./lb, and increased as starch content improved.
Table 2. Nutrient composition of 8 samples of fresh corn silage collected in South Dakota.
Nutrient
Samples
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Dry Matter (%) 24.3 26.9 24.3 25.4 25.0 25.5 26.5 26.9
Protein (%DM) 9.34 9.11 8.86 8.91 10.2 9.1 7.83 8.34
ADF (%DM) 34.1 29.7 28.4 28.9 24.8 25.3 23.7 22.8
NDF (%DM) 55.7 50.7 48.3 47.5 43.7 46.0 40.2 40.6
Lignin (%DM) 4.43 3.28 3.34 4.05 3.24 2.6 2.72 2.60
Starch (%DM) 4.99 8.33 9.52 13.7 14.1 20.1 28.0 29.6
Sugar (%DMS) 8.67 14.0 12.4 9.48 13.3 9.15 6.76 5.75
Ash (%DM) 6.50 6.18 5.71 8.85 5.98 5.83 4.72 4.76
Nitrates (ppm) <300 1700 <300 <300 640 736 <300 <300
NEl (Mcal/lb) 0.61 0.65 0.65 0.62 0.67 0.69 0.71 0.72
Abbreviations: DM (Dry Matter), NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber), ADF (Acid Detergent Fiber), NEl (Net Energy for lactation).
This is the part of the article that pertains to price. | |
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drought corn silage $$$
