Choosing the right corn hybrid for silage can significantly impact your livestock operation's success. Our Agronomy in Action Research team provides silage hybrid ratings to help farmers with livestock operations choose the best option to meet the nutritional needs of dairy and beef operations. Golden Harvest hybrids are evaluated for both tonnage and quality traits in replicated trials over a two-year period prior to being advanced as a commercial product. Understanding silage quality ratings and proper management practices is crucial for maximizing your investment.
Figure 1. Corn silage harvestWhat Makes a Great Silage Hybrid?
Quality silage starts with selecting hybrids that offer:
- Strong regional adaptation
- Enhanced stay-green characteristics
- Improved starch digestibility
- Balanced yield and quality traits
How Are Silage Ratings Determined?
Our rating system uses NIR (near-infrared spectroscopy) analysis by independent labs to derive the silage quality and digestibility data results to evaluate hybrids and assign the following ratings:
BEST = Best silage quality or yield content, relative to other hybrids
GOOD = Good silage quality or yield content, relative to other hybrids
FAIR = Fair silage quality or yield content, relative to other hybrids
POOR = Poor silage quality or yield content, relative to other hybrids.
What Should You Consider When Planning Your Silage Program?
Silage corn hybrids can benefit from a few adjustments in your management approach compared to raising corn for grain. Key tips include:
- Select hybrids well-adapted for the geographic region using local performance data whenever possible.
- Understand that hybrid characteristics such as stay-green and increased starch digestibility are important for silage production.
- Select hybrids best fitting specific needs for yield and quality. When comparing hybrid ratings, it is recommended to compare ratings within a maturity group.
- Plant early to optimize crop utilization of water, nutrients and sunlight.
- Plant at populations equal to or up to 10% greater than corn for grain.
- Acknowledge soil nutrient removal for potassium and phosphorus will be higher for silage than grain production, due to the increased removal of crop residue.
- Target a whole-plant moisture content of 60-70% at harvest, depending on ensiling method, with higher moistures best suited for storage in a bunker or pile.
Making the Planting Decision
Scenario: Selecting hybrids for next season
Risk: Suboptimal feed quality and yield
What to Consider:
- Local performance data
- Specific nutritional needs
- Storage method
- Maturity group compatibility
How Do You Optimize Nutrient Management?
Step 1: Account for increased nutrient removal
Step 2: Adjust fertility programs accordingly
Step 3: Monitor soil test levels regularly
Common mistake: Treating silage corn fertility the same as grain corn
Key Takeaways: Success with silage corn requires careful hybrid selection based on proven performance data and your specific operational needs. Remember that proper management practices, including increased plant populations and enhanced fertility programs, are essential for maximizing both yield and quality. Always compare hybrids within the same maturity group for the most accurate assessment of potential performance
Table 1 : Agronomic characteristic ratings for Golden Harvest silage corn hybrids available for the 2027 crop year 1Digestibility ratings are based on near-infrared and in vitro digestibility analysis. Milk performance estimates are generated from University of Wisconsin equations. Comparisons should be made only among hybrids within a maturity group. Although actual silage yield and quality analysis of a hybrid will vary with environment, the relative ranking of a hybrid will be similar. These ratings are a relative performance guide. Conduct a laboratory test to determine actual silage quality when balancing a feed ration. These ratings should not be used to estimate actual production per animal, but instead should be used to determine relative overall silage quality and yield of each hybrid.
2fyi.extension.wisc.edu/forage/files/2016/11/Milk-2016-Combining-Yield-and-Quality-into-a-Single-Term-2.pdfFor more information on corn silage considerations, contact your local
Golden Harvest Seed Advisor.