Corn silage — when to harvest
Enter one whole-plant dry matter test to get an estimate. Enter a second, taken 3–5 days later, and the calculator uses this field's own drying rate instead of an average.
Test 1
Test 2 (optional, but much more accurate)
Where it is going
How to take the sample so the number means something
Walk a diagonal across the field and cut 8 to 10 whole plants at your normal chop height. Skip the headlands, the end rows and any thin or drowned-out patch — they are not what the chopper will average. Run the plants through a chipper or shredder, spread the chop on a tarp and quarter it down to a handful, about 100 g.
Weigh it wet. Dry it in a Koster tester or a microwave until the weight stops falling — re-weigh every 30 seconds near the end and stop when two weighings match. Weigh it dry. Units do not matter as long as both weights use the same one.
Two things wreck the number: sampling only the good end of the field, and sampling within a day of rain, because surface water on the leaves reads the crop wetter than it is. Sample the same way every time. A consistent method matters more than a perfect one, because the second test is measuring the change from the first.
This is a projection from your own tests, not a guarantee. Re-test every 3 days once the crop is within 5 points of target, and confirm with a fresh sample before the chopper rolls.