Forage Harvesting Information

Dr. Maurice Eastridge, Extension Dairy Specialist, The Ohio State University

The rainfall has been quite limited in many areas of Ohio this growing season, but reasonable rainfall has occurred in some localized areas. The average precipitation in Ohio since January 1 of this year is 79% of that for last year and 57% since June 1 compared to last year (Table 1). Forage yields for this cropping year are going to be somewhat dependant on the precipitation that is occurs during the next month and a half. Yet, harvest time for corn silage and other forages will be he here soon. For helpful information on harvesting forages, check out the articles on Ohio Dairy Industry Online Resources Center:

• Special Forage Edition, Buckeye Dairy News, August 2004 (https://dairy.osu.edu/bdnews/v006iss05.htm)
• Harvesting and Storing Dry Corn Silage (https://dairy.osu.edu/resource/feed/Dry%20Corn%20Silage%202003.pdf)
• Immature Corn Silage (https://dairy.osu.edu/resource/feed/immature%20corn%20silage.pdf)
• Nitrates in Dairy Rations (http://ohioline.osu.edu/as-fact/0003.html)
• Pricing Standing Corn Silage (https://dairy.osu.edu/resource/feed/Pricing%20silage%202002%20Final.pdf)
• Pricing Soybeans for Silage (https://dairy.osu.edu/resource/feed/Pricing%20Standing%20Soybeans%20for%20Silage-Revised.pdf)
• Valuing Corn Silage - How much is it worth? (https://dairy.osu.edu/resource/feed/Valuing%20Corn%20for%20Silage%202003.pdf)
• Feeding Frosted Forages (https://dairy.osu.edu/resource/feed/Feeding%20Frosted%20Forages.pdf)

Table 1. Precipitation (inches) in Ohio (National Weather Service, as of July 14, 2005; number in parentheses is the average for 2004).