What's in Your New Crop Corn Silage?

Nov 19, 2025

By Zachary Curtis and Kassandra Hower et.al

As silo structures are opened after harvest, producers can find issues with molds, mycotoxins, and abnormally warm silage. The initial fermentation period in corn silage can progress in as soon as 30 days, after which producers can evaluate the fermentation and nutrient quality of ensiled corn. Producers may also notice that pH and starch digestibility levels continue to change over the following 180 days as silage acids continue to degrade some components of the starch molecules.

Submit a Forage Analysis

A forage analysis is critical to helping livestock producers properly balance rations, minimize purchased feed costs, and prevent animal health issues. However, a forage analysis offers value beyond indicating protein, starch, fiber, or other nutrient levels. Various commercial forage analysis laboratories have expanded testing packages to include fermentation quality analyses, mold and mycotoxin screens, and energy index calculations.

An annual forage analysis can also help you benchmark your forages against other producers and ideal nutrient levels. Since forage quality can vary from year to year based on growing season conditions, searching through a lab's quality data can explain yearly differences in starch or fiber content. Industry benchmarks can be found in the article Corn Silage Production and Management.

Source : psu.edu

Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?