Harvesting at the right time to maximize digestibility is also key
Feeding corn silage to cattle comes with some risks in Alberta — but there are ways you can manage that. “There are a lot of different factors that will affect yield and quality in corn silage,” said federal research scientist Karen Beauchemin. “You have some control over some of these factors, but not all. So […] Read more
New shorter-season varieties are ‘night and day’ when compared to what was available a decade ago
[Updated May 29, 2017] Corn has come a long way in Alberta since Tony Schmidt started growing it in the early 2000s. “Early on, our corn would barely get a cob on it because it was such long-season corn we were trying to grow here, and now we’ve got it to where we can combine […] Read more
The measure isn’t standard between companies, and picking a variety suited to your area is key
Corn heat units cause “a lot of confusion” among new growers of the crop — and rightfully so. “There is no industry standard for corn maturity. We all put heat unit ratings on our corn, and we put relative maturity on our corn, but they’re not standard for each company,” said Nicole Rasmussen, DuPont Pioneer […] Read more
Watch for the presence of mycotoxins when feeding ensiled corn. When the toxins T-2, HT-2 and DON (vomitoxin) are present, cattle will reduce the amount of feed they eat, said provincial veterinary toxicologist Joe Kendall. “However, if you ensile the standing crop with the mycotoxins present, you are mixing good and contaminated feed together so […] Read more
A review of ending stocks in the past does not give much hope for a turnaround
Even before the current U.S. Farm Bill was adopted, we shared our concern that a $4-plus plateau in corn prices, which was being widely predicted, was in all likelihood no plateau at all. A year ago many were predicting corn would average $4.50 a bushel, partly because of ethanol demand and partly because production costs […] Read more
Corn growers have limited options for controlling Roundup Ready canola in their crops — but Group 27 herbicides offer a ‘good opportunity’
Doug Moisey wouldn’t go so far as to say corn is the “wuss” of the cropping world, but it sure doesn’t put up much of a fight against weeds. “Wuss may be a strong word, but when it comes to weed control, it’s very critical,” said the DuPont Pioneer area agronomist at Farming Smarter’s field […] Read more
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