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Establishing Corn Silage Value

Sep 06, 2016

By Warren Rusche

Corn silage represents the base of many beef and dairy diets in the Midwest for a number of very good reasons. Properly harvested corn silage is an excellent forage resource that can be used in a number of feeding situations. A large quantity of feed can be harvested from a relatively small land area in a short period of time, especially with modern corn genetics and silage harvesting equipment. However, assigning accurate values to corn silage can be challenging as there are few if any published market prices.

There are two basic approaches to pricing corn silage; either valuing corn silage based on the cash corn market, or based on nutrient composition compared to some other feedstuff.

Valuing Corn Silage Based on Corn Prices

A common rule of thumb to determine corn silage value has been to multiply the cash price of corn by a factor of 10 to 12 and use that value as the price per ton of corn silage in the bunker. Although this method is quick and easy, it relies on assumptions that may not be true for every situation. A more precise tool is often called for, especially when negotiating a fair value for corn silage between two parties.

Jack Davis, SDSU Extension Crops Business Management Field Specialist, has developed a spreadsheet tool to help producers estimate silage values more accurately. Corn silage value is estimated using the estimated yield and price of corn, expected harvest costs for both silage and grain, the value of the stover either in the field or baled, as well as estimated silage dry matter and shrink losses. Example corn silage values are shown in Table 1.

Corn Price, $/bushel $2.70 Estimated corn yield 150 bushels Estimated silage yield 20.2 tons Corn silage dry matter 35% Corn grain harvest expense, $/acre $50.00 Net value of stover, $/ton stover $20 Corn Silage Value – Standing in field, $/ton $20.83 Estimated silage harvest cost, $/ton $9.00 Shrink loss 15% Corn Silage Value at Feeding, $/ton $32.95 - See more at: http://igrow.org/livestock/beef/establishing-corn-silage-value/#sthash.Fajw1K3V.dpuf