Silage Earlage Decision Aid

By Jack B. Davis SDSU Extension Crops Business Management Field Specialist

Making corn silage at MODAK Dairy, Kranzburg, SD. Photo by MODAK Dairy
Written collaboratively by Jack Davis and Shannon Sand.

The Silage/Earlage Decision Aid calculator is a useful tool for crop producers and livestock feeders to estimate silage costs.

A few of the questions that arise when cutting a crop for silage include:

• What the value per acre of the crop is if harvested for grain or as silage?
• What will the crop yield for silage?
• What is the cost of the silage delivered to the bunk?
• How many acres do I need to cut to meet my feed inventory needs?

SDSU Extension Field Specialists along with the South Dakota Center for Farm and Ranch Management have developed the Silage/Earlage Decision Aid to assist in answering those very questions. Producers have the opportunity to enter their own numbers into each of three sections to the calculator: Section one reveals the value of a ton of silage or the value/acre to the crop grower. Expected cash corn price, silage dry matter, estimated grain yield, harvesting costs and value of stover removed are all inputs that are required.