Harvest & Storage

“You only get one chance to make good silage,” says Tim Meister.

Meister, a division marketing manager for John Deere Ottumwa Works, has been analyzing corn silage for 20 years.

The adage “make hay while the sun shines” is hard to live by when your goal is high-quality harvested forage, especially in the spring and early summer when conditions such as mild temperatures,

The goal of ensiling forage crops is to maximize dry matter and nutrient recovery so the maximum amount of high-quality material is available to feed.

Forage quality doesn’t increase after harvest, so what methods can be put into place to ensure haylage yields are of optimum use to animals? Agriculture experts have spent years researching what steps affect forage nutrition, and some of the most minute details can alter the makeup of your product.

From the moment you start baling to the moment the last bale is unloaded at your storage location, there are numerous benefits to making dense bales.

If you had a brand-spanking-new fishing boat, would you store it outside, exposed to the elements? Depends, right?