If your corn isn’t fully ready for harvest, you could be opening yourself up to a host of issues. Immature corn comes with higher moisture, lower starch content and a water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) content that is far too high. These conditions can lead to an incorrect ratio of acetic acid to lactic acid fermentation.  

If you know you’re going to chop immature corn, we suggest chopping a longer length of cut, and perhaps using the immature corn to feed only heifers and dry cows due to lower energy density. You should also be sure to use a trusted inoculant like bonsilage CLASSIC, which drives fermentation towards lactic acid production, or bonsilage PRO, which offers reheating protection while controlling fermentation. 

Corn that should have already been chopped offers lower moisture, lower silage density and a lower WSC content. You might also find kernel processing to be challenging. All this leads to perfect conditions for reheating problems at feed-out, because hard-to-pack forages allow more oxygen inside the pile, promoting yeast and undesirable bacteria growth. 

To help combat the negative consequences of overly mature corn, consider chopping with a shorter length of cut, and also separating this forage out to feed heifers and dry cows or feed it during the cooler months. Your choice of silage inoculant will also make a big difference. Consider using bonsilage SPEED C to control yeast growth early in the fermentation and avoid reheating at feedout efficiently. Or you can also choose bonsilage CORN+ to control fermentation and protect against yeast and mold growth. 

If you face a long chopping season due to maturity variation in the field, your challenges inside the pile can multiply, forcing you to deal with both mature and immature corn issues in the same pile. And if you don’t get your pile sealed quickly enough, your fermentation will be harder to control.  

You can minimize the problems caused by these scenarios by covering your pile during harvest if you foresee more than a 24-hour delay while piling or filling. This will help minimize forage exposure to oxygen. Additionally, you can also consider a multi-tiered harvest. Planning two harvest windows can compensate for field maturity variation and maximize the starch content of your silage. 

In these cases, bonsilage SPEED C can be essential in controlling yeast growth very early in the fermentation, which allows no room for undesirable fermentation and helps avoid reheating. 

Meanwhile, bonsilage CORN+ will also control fermentation and protect against yeast and mold growth, even after a long chopping season or exposed pile. 

If your crop is frosted, frozen or drought-stressed, you could be looking at several challenges. Your moisture content can widely vary, and the plants will look drier than they really are when chopping. They might also accumulate nitrates, which can be toxic to your animals and even people. 

Additionally, stressed fields are usually crowded with fungi, which brings more yeast and mold to the pile and promotes undesirable fermentation and high spoilage at feedout. Controlling fungi activity early prevents spoilage/reheating and presence of mycotoxins. 

You should consider increasing chop height to compensate for low digestible fiber. And always note that if you detect the presence of “orange gas,” it means that there are dangerous levels of nitrates in the silage, and you should take precautions immediately.  

To overcome the challenges of cold- and drought-stressed corn, bonsilage is here for you. Our bonsilage SPEED C controls yeast growth very early in the fermentation process, decreasing its activity and metabolites production, while bonsilage CORN+ controls fermentation and protects against yeast and mold growth at feedout, decreasing spoilage and mycotoxin production.