By WCM Staff on 10/28/2009 11:07 AM

Adjusted properly, your combine can handle corn between 20 and 30% moisture. However, as moistures exceed 30%, your work will be a balancing act between leaving unthreshed grain in the field and grain damage. Here are a few tips to help guide you along in this wet harvest season.

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By WCM Staff on 10/28/2009 6:27 AM

Corn test weight (TW) is an often discussed topic of conversation among corn growers. The topic moves to the forefront in years when corn has been stressed at some point during the grain filling period or when the growing season is ended by frost before physiological maturity is reached. In many cases, the concept of test weight is misunderstood.

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By WCM Staff on 10/28/2009 6:13 AM

Even the best plans to ensile high moisture corn at the proper moisture level are sometimes thwarted by weather and time constraints.  These types of situations prompt the question, "What can I get away with?"  Here are some factors and suggestions to consider when making decisions regarding the harvest and storage of high moisture corn.

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By WCM Staff on 9/3/2009 12:08 PM

 Winter wheat establishment recommendations by Shawn Conley, State Soybean and Small Grains Specialist, Paul Esker, Extension Field Crops Plant Pathologist, John Gaska, Outreach Specialist.

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By WCM Staff on 9/3/2009 12:02 PM

In late July, there was a significant hail event in Wisconsin, primarily located in the southwestern portion of the state (Fig. 1). At that time, the corn crop was at approximately the R1 (silking) growth stage, but ranging from pre-VT (pre-tasseling) to R1. The hail event led to extensive bruising on the ear, husks, and stalks, however, the severity of the hail event varied from field to field. While some fields had finished pollinating, with bruising on ears, others had not yet started the pollination process and ears were unaffected.

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By WCM Staff on 9/3/2009 11:50 AM

I don’t need to tell you how cool it has been this year. We are all feeling it. 

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By WCM Staff on 8/27/2009 6:26 AM

Corn must be ensiled at the proper moisture to get fermentation for preservation. But, determining when to harvest corn at the right whole plant moisture is difficult. Each storage structure properly ensiles at slightly different moisture optimums. Harvesting corn too wet for the storage structure will result in reduced yield, souring and seepage of the ensilage, and low intake by dairy cows. Harvesting too dry reduces yield, can cause mold to develop, and lowers digestibility, protein and vitamins A and E. The objective of this paper is to review field sampling procedures for accurately timing corn silage harvest.

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By WCM Staff on 8/20/2009 6:32 AM

Wisconsin saw a 10% decline in winter wheat acres planted (300,000) in the 2008-2009 growing season. The estimated yield for the 2009 crop is 63 bu per acre, down 7 percent from last year. The decline in winter wheat acres was caused by two factors: delayed corn and soybean harvest due to delayed crop maturity and high nitrogen input prices. 

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By WCM Staff on 8/13/2009 6:59 AM

Record cool temperatures have occurred this July and farmers are getting concerned about whether the corn crop will mature.

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By WCM Staff on 8/6/2009 6:31 AM

Hail in late July severely damaged much corn in Wisconsin. Some fields will be assessed as total losses. Corn that was broken off at the ear will not continue to grow. What options remain for those planning on silage?

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By WCM Staff on 7/30/2009 8:36 AM

Monsanto and DowAgroSciences, in a cross-licensing agreement, announced on July 20 that they have received registration approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a regulatory authorization from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to commercialize SmartStax^TM corn hybrids in 2010. The hybrids will express the following insecticidal proteins: Cry3Bb1 (event MON88017), Cry34/35Ab1 (event DAS-59122-7), Cry1F (event TC 1507), and Cry1A.105+Cry2Ab2 (event MON89034).

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By WCM Staff on 7/23/2009 8:20 AM

Today’s article addresses the topic of tank mixing insecticide for soybean aphid with fungicides at R3 soybean growth stage, or a bit earlier this season the same conversation was circulating regarding insecticide with 2^nd pass Roundup (glyphosate) herbicide application in soybeans.

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By WCM Staff on 7/23/2009 8:10 AM

As the soybean crop moves into the R3, or early pod development, growth stage, we have received numerous calls regarding the use of foliar fungicides and insecticide tank-mix partners (a.k.a. plant health programs). 

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By WCM Staff on 7/16/2009 10:30 AM

Just a quick reminder that the HPPD-inhibiting herbicides (Callisto, Impact, and Laudis) have postemergence activity on soybeans.

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