Throughout the spring and summer, corn silage has steadily been growing across the country to help feed the nation’s 9.4 million head of dairy cattle. But in the coming weeks, those fields will be harvested, leaving a blank canvas for farmers to plant a variety of cover crops.
According to Sjoerd Willem Duiker, professor of soil management and applied soil physics at Penn State University, planting cover crops after corn silage harvest is important for a variety of reasons. Not only do they help protect the soil from erosion, but they remediate soil compaction, help the soil resist manure spreading traffic later, provide weed control and can even be used for forage or grazing purposes later on. However, to help ensure cover crop success, timeliness is key.
“You should have the cover crop seed on hand and the drill ready to go with an operator in the seat when you start your [silage] harvest,” Duiker says. “It gives a lot of satisfaction to see the drill in a field immediately after harvest!”
By TAYLOR LEACH
August 28, 2023
dairyherd.com
