Attend a Chipper Day

Illinois Chipper Day

Mike Hutjens Extension Dairy Specialist University of Illinois, Urbana

With the corn silage crop ahead of schedule by one to two weeks, dairy and beef producers must be ready to chop corn silage for optimal yield and quality. To get answers for your corn silage crop in central and southern Illinois, Effingham-Clay Farm Service and Breese Agri-Pride FS will sponsor two chipper days. On Monday, August 2nd, the Breese Regional Chipper Day will be held at the Breese Agri-Pride location. On August 3rd, an Effingham Regional Chipper Day will be held at the Sigel Park sponsored by Effingham-Clay FS. University of Illinois dairy specialists will be both locations along with F.S. agronomy and livestock nutritionists.

A Chipper Day encourages dairy and beef managers to bring 4 to 6 corn stalks of each variety they are planning to harvest as corn silage to one of the two locations. These stalks will be processed through a commercial yard chipper and analyzed by a NIR (near infra-red) equipment to measure protein, fiber, and neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD) plus dry matter content. If your corn silage hybrid analyzes 30 to 35 percent dry matter, 8 percent crude protein, less than 26 percent ADF (acid detergent fiber), less than 45 percent NDF, and over 55% NDFD, you have quality corn silage and its time to harvest.

If you want an estimation your corn silage yield, harvest all corn stalks in 17.5 feet of a typical row, bring to the Chipper Day, and yield estimations can be made. Livestock producers can bring in corn stalks starting at 9:00 am and evaluated on a first come-first served basis with results available within a few minutes. A complementary lunch will be provided at noon with the chipper day ending at 2 pm or when all samples are finished. Dave Fischer or Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois dairy educators, will be attending each of the days to discuss results and answer questions such as optimal dry matter based on storage structure, use of inoculant, plant processing, and forage particle size.

Corn silage continues to be the most economical forage resource for Illinois dairy managers supporting high milk yield and milk components. With low quality legume/grass first and second crop forages, corn silage may be the answer for 2004-2005 feeding year.

For more details, contact Tom Deters, Regional F.S Total Livestock Services manager at 888-374-2748 or 217-342-9231.