Orange Patch Dairy Corn Silage Harvest 2010

Video of our good friend driving his JD 8400T on our New Holland FP 240 chopper with a Horning Corn Processor. We were able to chop corn at about 6-7 mph, filling a load in about 7 minutes. We harvested about 135 acres of corn, which yielded over 2800 tons of silage for our 200+ cows for the coming year. Our goal is to make the best possible feed for healthy cows from land that is cared for and properly managed. We were battling time, as the weather was 90 degrees with a strong southerly wind. These conditions help to dry down corn quickly in the field. We made sure to harvest corn at about 65-69% moisture (a normal plant is around 75% moisture). Moisture helps the corn ferment in the silage bags that we store the feed in-like pickles.