Fun fact: Wisconsin is now the national leader in corn silage. Wisconsin produces nearly twice the tonnage of second-place California. Where there are dairy cows, corn silage usually follows. In recent years, Wisconsin has averaged about 1 million acres harvested as corn silage, yielding 18 to 20 tons per acre across the state.
Some advancements in corn production are relatively recent. Geneticists have selected for traits important to livestock producers, such as highly digestible fiber and more digestible starch. Improvements in processing have allowed the length of cut to be longer and the fiber to be more effective for the cows eating it.
Farmers have also introduced cover crops to protect the soil over winter and to improve conservation aspects of the crop will make it even better. We have grown cover crops on our farm for many years now and we have seen a great impact on our crop yield and health.
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