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Late Season Hail Damage Resources
A special thank you to the Nebraska Extension team who shared during today’s hail damage meetings! They were well attended with nearly 120 participants between the two locations. Hopefully the information was of help as you talk with your crop insurance adjuster and know what to expect going forward. Below are the resources we provided and additional items including presentations that were discussed. Contact information for the speakers is listed at the bottom of this post. We will continue to add resources to this page if you’d like to check back. Thanks!
Presentations:
- Dr. Justin McMechan’s Presentation: Corn and Soybeans Hail Panel 2018
- Jenny Rees Presentation: StormDamageDiscussion-8-13-18
- Steve Melvin Irrigation Information: Irrigation Scheduling for Hail Damaged Crops
General Hail Damage Resources:
UNL Extension Hail Know web site: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/hailknow
Hail Damage Videos:
- Hail Damage Evaluation and Management in Soybeans
- Hail Damage Evaluation and Management in Corn
- Weed Management Considerations Following Hail
UNL CropWatch Storm Damage: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/storm-damage-response-information
Irrigation:
Corn at Beginning Dent needs 5” of water; ¼ milk = 3.75”; ½ milk (Full dent) = 2.25”; ¾ milk = 1”. Soybean at beginning seed (R5) = 6.5”; R6 full seed = 3.5”; leaves beginning to yellow = 1.9”.
NebGuide Predicting the Last Irrigation of the Season. Use the last page to walk through an example of how much water you may need to finish out the crop for crop insurance purposes. Also realize that severely hail damaged plants may progress more rapidly than the number of days for each growth stage listed in this NebGuide and that damaged plants may not use as much water as mentioned here. http://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/pdf/g1871.pdf
Crop coefficients chart by growth stage: https://nawmn.unl.edu/GrowthStageData
Forages:
If anyone is taking hail damaged corn for silage, Dr. Mary Drewnoski is interested in samples prior to and after ensiling and is willing to help with sample analysis cost. Even if silage has already occurred, we’d be interested in samples after ensiling. Please contact her if interested (contact info. at bottom of this post).
The three links below are the ones that answer specific questions. The first article answers a few questions regarding forage considerations for hail-damaged corn and soybean. The over-riding decisions will be based on planting date. Sudangrass or sorghum x sudangrass crosses and millets are still appropriate until August 15, although seed supplies of these are dwindling. After that, we are looking at oats/turnips. Drilling these directly into the stubble is the best option for planting. There was also a great discussion regarding earlage and we need to create an article regarding that topic.
https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2018/forage-cover-crop-considerations-after-hail-corn-and-soybean
This article addresses nitrate concerns when grazing forage cover crops: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2018/reducing-nitrate-concerns-when-grazing-forage-cover-crops
This article addresses cover crops:
https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2018/cover-crops-soil-health-storm-damaged-fields
| COVER CROP | USE/GOAL | WHEN TO PLANT | HOW TO SEED | RATE (PER ACRE) |
ADDITIONAL NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OATS | Weed Management | By Sept. 1 | Drill best. Can fly on. | 30-40 lbs | * |
| OATS/RYE MIX | Weed Management | By Sept. 1 | Drill best. Can fly on. | 30 lbs each | * |
| OATS | Forage | By Sept. 1 | Drill best. Can fly on. | 80-90 lbs | * |
| OAT/RYE MIX | Forage | By Sept. 1 | Drill best. Can fly on. | 30-40 lbs of rye and 50-60 lbs oats | * |
| BRASSICAS (TURNIP, COLLARD, RAPESEED)-NOT OILSEED RADISHES | Cover ground, forage, nitrogen uptake | By Sept. 1 | Fly on for quicker establishment. | 5-6 lbs | — |
| RYE | Weed management, cover ground, forage, nitrogen uptake | After Sept. 1 | Drill best. Can fly on. | 50-60 lbs | * |
| *If adding a brassica to any of these small grain options, only 2 lb/ac is needed. Rapeseed isn’t as well known, but is an inexpensive and good option for consideration. | |||||
Other Forage Considerations
- Earlage: For fields where the ear is now the top-most plant portion, silage is not a good option, but earlage can be. This resource from North Dakota State University, Harvesting, Storing and Feeding corn as Earlage, provides good information on earlage.
- Grazing: Whenever possible, attempting to harvest the corn first would be best. It’s not a good idea to graze the corn with ears on the stalks. A better option would be to harvest the corn and graze afterward, following considerations that we used for the downed corn situation in 2017. See Down Corn: Problem or Opportunity for Cattle Producers?
- Silage: The following are good silage resources — Silage Considerations (UNL BeefWatch) and videos from the Silage for Beef Cattle Conference.
Grain Quality/Mold/Mycotoxins/Grain Storage:
Diplodia ear rot is perhaps the most common with these types of storms. Good news, Diplodia does not have a mycotoxin associated with it. Bad news is this fungus explodes on an ear creating light-weight ears and explodes in grain bins.
It will be wise to assess which fields/portions of fields are affected the worst with mold. Consider not storing any of that grain as it will be difficult to manage and keep from getting worse in storage. You will also need to assess which fields have increased risk of stalk rot by using the pinch test (Use your thumb and first finger to pinch the stalk internode above the soil line. If it easily crushes, the plant has stalk rot). Consider harvesting those portions of fields or fields most affected by stalk rot first.
Ear Rot Diseases and Grain Molds: http://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/pdf/ec1901.pdf
Stalk Rot Diseases: http://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/pdf/ec1868.pdf
Sprouting of Corn Kernels: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/sprouting-corn-kernels-hail-damaged-ears
Tips for Testing Storm Damaged Corn (Veterinarian perspective): https://cropwatch.unl.edu/storm-damaged-corn-tips-testing-and-using
Grain Storage Resources: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/grain-storage-management
Crop Insurance Questions:
Every field situation may vary. If you have hail insurance, the insurance adjuster should evaluate ear damage in addition to percent defoliation and stalk breakage.
Ask your insurance adjuster how they assess grain quality damage.
- What are their rules?
- Do they go by the COOP results for mold/mycotoxin/dockage?
- Do they require the insurance agent to come out and take a sample for mold/mycotoxin?
- Do they require you to call them before you put grain into your bin? (This is especially the case if aflatoxin may be of concern. We don’t anticipate that being a problem with this storm damage. However, if they require a sample for mold/mycotoxin in general, they may ask you to call them to take a sample before the grain gets put into a bin).
- If you do have presence of mold and/or mycotoxin, it’s best to have it documented before the grain goes into the bin. If the grain gets out of quality and the mold and/or mycotoxin increases in your bin by spring, if it wasn’t documented at harvest, you may not get compensated.
Mary Drewnoski Daren Redfearn Justin McMechan
Extension Beef Nutritionist Extension Forage Specialist Extension Crop Systems
402-472-6289 (402) 472-2662 (402) 624-8041
mary.drewnoski@unl.edu dredfearn2@unl.edu justin.mcmechan@unl.edu
Steve Melvin Jenny Rees
Extension Educator Extension Educator
(308) 946-3843 (402) 440-4739
steve.melvin@unl.edu jrees2@unl.edu
JenREES 6-24-18
Crop Update: What a blessing to have rain this past week! Grateful for how it provided much needed moisture into the top two feet in many cases. Updated soil moisture status will be at http://jenreesources.com. Some in our area and in other parts of the State received wind, hail damage, and flooding to crops. This week’s CropWatch at http://cropwatch.unl.edu shares information for those situations. A few summarizing points: for those with greensnap or with severe hail damage, you may wonder what potential yield may be based on your planting date and current plant stand. The following chart from Iowa State University and explanation of how to understand it may be helpful: https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2009/05/assessing-corn-stands-replanting.
Source: Iowa State University
For those with flooding, corn in the V7-10 leaf stage can survive for about 7-10 days in flooded water. Temperatures above 86F can result in greater stress on those plants than if the temps remain cooler than that during that time. Another consideration for the future, it’s not uncommon to find a disease called ‘crazy top’ of corn when the tassels begin to emerge. We’ve seen this the past several years where creeks or areas along waterways or field edges were ponded. There’s nothing you can do to prevent this.
For those with hail damage, damage from V7-10 leaf corn can result in a number of situations depending on the severity of hail. Minimal yield loss is assumed for leaf damage in crop insurance charts. Final plant stands will be important which will account for broken off plants that don’t recover. Stem bruising also isn’t factored in. For corn, bacterial diseases tend to be my larger concern at these growth stages. Bacterial top rot is one in which the plant dies from the top down and has a strong odor to it and creates a soft, slimy mess. Goss’ wilt is another concern-particularly systemic Goss’ wilt. You can check for this if you have a dying plant that doesn’t have a soft rot by taking a
Cross-section of stem showing systemic Goss’ wilt in the discolored vascular bundles.
cross section of the stem and looking for discoloration of the vascular bundles. You can also send plants like this to the Plant and Pest Diagnostic Lab in Lincoln for confirmation.
Regarding fungicide use on hail damaged corn, Iowa State and the University of Illinois did studies finding similar results. Both found no statistical difference in applying a fungicide vs. the untreated check in spite of small numerical differences. Regarding timing, the Iowa State study simulated hail damage at tassel and applied fungicide an average of 3 days and 8 days post-hail. There were no statistical differences on yield of the timing of the applications either. They did find statistically less fungal diseases in the hail-damaged plots vs. the non-hail damaged plots and speculated it was due to more air flow and less leaf area available for disease to occur. I have observed that fungicide can help with stalk strength and maintaining whatever green tissue remains when we had the 2013 hail storm in Clay County at brown-silk to blister corn. But this early, it’s hard to justify a fungicide application based on the data that’s available. If you’re interested in testing this for yourself, the following is an on-farm research Fungicide Protocol for Hailed Corn and Soybean.
For hail damage on soybean, many of the beans are at flowering or approaching flowering. Again, stem bruising isn’t counted in crop insurance assessments. I haven’t really observed bacterial or other disease issues necessarily from stem bruising in soybean. What tends to be more of an issue is those plants hardening off and becoming brittle to walk through. For soybeans, the blessing is that often new buds form and you will see increased branching which can help with canopy closure…it just can hurt right now when soybeans were already near canopy and we’re trying to reduce additional inputs for weed control. Things to consider are that pods may be closer to the ground from this increased branching and you may need to harvest earlier to help with getting beans that become brittle before snapping off in wind storms. I leave plant stands of near 60,000 plants/acre based on our soybean pop studies that received hail damage. If you want to prove any replanting differences to yourself, you may wish to consider the following Soybean Replant Protocol. We’d recommend waiting on herbicide apps till some new growth occurs, which is difficult when I’ve watched palmer essentially be not affected by hail and put on two new leaves within a few days in the past. Last year we started making herbicide apps 5-7 days post-hail. Additional hail resources are at a new resource called ‘Hail Know’ at: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/hailknow. There’s a lot of info I haven’t transferred to this site yet…but you can view photos and comments on hail recovery at numerous growth stages over time at my blog under the ‘Storm Damage’ category: https://jenreesources.com/category/storm-damage-2/.
Last week I shared the following video regarding determining timing of off-target dicamba movement to soybean: https://youtu.be/rQid7-vX-TU. Sharing again with an increase in the number of fields that were experiencing cupped symptoms last week.
Hail Damage
On-Farm Research Protocols:
Hail and wind damage occurred throughout the area I serve last week. Overall, I’ve been encouraged by the regrowth observed on corn and soybean plants affected by the June 14th storm. We were blessed with warmer weather and sunshine that allowed for regrowth to occur in many situations other than some fields around the Deweese area.
You can look for regrowth on leaves within the whorl of corn plants and on the axillary buds of soybeans. Even what appeared to be soybean ‘sticks’ may show regrowth by now.
The concerns I have for plants affected by these storms is all the stem bruising on both corn and soybeans and the potential for bacterial diseases to affect corn.
For those of you affected by June 16th storms, we recommend to wait a week to assess damage and any decisions. I realize we’re also at a critical stage for replant decisions as we continue later in the season. Ultimately, decisions need to be made on a field by field basis.
Resources:
- CropWatch Hail Damage Resources
- Resources from storm damage in 2014
- Fungicide Use After Hail or Wind
Fungicide Application
There’s no good research to Dr. Tamra Jackson-Ziems or my knowledge to support this. Fungicides only control fungal diseases. Bacterial diseases are favored after hail events and we have already seen bacterial leaf streak in the area prior to the storm. From past-years’ experience of prior wind/rain events, we can expect to see more of it in about a week. Fungicides won’t help that disease nor Goss’s wilt which is another we often see come in after hail events.
However, if you’re considering this, I’d like to have several farmers prove it to yourselves with on-farm research this year so we do have data for the future. It’s this simple. All you do is spray fungicide in enough width to complete 2 combine passes. Then skip an area for 2 combine passes. Then treat again and repeat across the field. Fungicide Protocol for Hailed Corn and Soybean. Please let me know if you’re interested in this!
Timing of fungicide app: ISU did a study to simulate hail damaged corn at tassel stage within an average of 3 or 8 days post-hail. They didn’t find the timing to provide any yield effects. They also didn’t find a statistical yield increase (90% confidence level) in fungicide application to hail damaged plants vs those which weren’t hailed although they also reported a numerical increase in 12 of the 20 fields.
Herbicide application: I spoke with Dr. Amit Jhala, Extension Weed Specialist for his thoughts regarding this. He said ultimately herbicides shouldn’t be applied to stressed weeds in order to achieve greatest efficacy. The concern for many including me right now is how well the weeds survived the hail and how quickly they are regrowing compared to the damaged corn and soybeans. This again is a field by field assessment regarding how well your corn and soybean regrowth is occurring and how rapidly your weeds are. I watched one palmer plant in one field after June 14 storm: 1 day post hail and 2 days post hail put on two sets of leaves in that time period. I also took pictures of soybeans reduced to sticks while 
waterhemp in that field was virtually untouched. I think many are trying to wait 5-7 days post-hail to apply herbicides but there were some fields I was suggesting to apply over the weekend with the recovery already occurring and less damage.
Corn replant: The biggest concerns with corn would be stands, eventual stalk rot/downed corn due to stalk bruising, and bacterial diseases. I’ve essentially watched stands reduced over the course of the growing season after early-season hail storms mostly due to bacterial diseases like Goss’ wilt. It will be important to have your crop insurance adjuster look at the field again prior to harvest. Splitting the stems of damaged plants across the field can help you assess any damage to growing points; they should be white/yellow and firm not brown and soft. Tattered leaves that are wrapped around the whorl should eventually turn brown and break off with the wind. They can sometimes impede new growth from the whorl as well though.
Soybean replant: Soybeans can compensate so greatly for reduced stands. From hail at this stage in the past, we’ve said to leave stands of non-irrigated at 60,000 plants per acre and irrigated at 75,000 plants per acre. Some soybeans reduced to sticks are shooting axillary buds. My biggest concern on soybeans is the stem bruising which isn’t accounted for in hail adjustments. If you want to prove replanting or not to yourself, consider slicing in soybeans next to the old row in strips across your field. Be sure to inoculate the soybeans and be sure to take prior stand counts. Soybean Replant Protocol.
There’s nothing like doing these studies and seeing the results on your own ground or from your peers’ farms. In 2006, I worked with a grower in the Lawrence, NE area on a non-irrigated soybean plant population study where he tested seeding rates of 100K, 130K, and 160K seeds/acre. He received hail at the cotyledon stage and because he was non-irrigated, chose to leave the stand. His actual stand counts were 74.4K, 89.4K, and 97.9K plants/acre respectively for the previous mentioned seeding rates which resulted in yields of 38.6, 40.6, 42.7 bu/ac respectively. Another soybean replant study occurred near Columbus, NE where the grower had an average plant stand of 75,000 plants per acre on June 11th. He chose to replant five strips across the field at a diagonal to the existing rows. The replanted soybeans ended up yielding 1 bu/ac less than the original plant stand. I realize it’s hard to want to do these extra steps for on-farm research, but this is why it’s important; it’s the way to answer these questions for yourself! Please contact one of our team members if you’re interested in on-farm research this year!
Wind-Hail Crop Damage Meeting
Recent wind and hail storms have created damage across our area counties in Nebraska and Kansas. This brief meeting to be held on Monday near Gladstone, NE is designed to answer farmers’ questions regarding harvest, crop insurance expectations, and what to expect regarding crop maturity and future damage. Please click on the image to enlarge.
Crop Update June 9
Corn that was hail-damaged on June 3rd is starting to regrow. Leaves wrapped up in the whorl are beginning to slough off as wind and warm temperatures cause the damaged tissue to die and break off. For more information on how stand loss impacts yield, please check http://cropwatch.unl.edu.
Some corn plants more severely affected were reduced to stems. Sometimes no new growth is appearing while in other plants new growth can be seen. I split open the stem on this plant since no new growth was apparent and the center looked discolored.
In this corn plant, a bacterial rot has set in as can be seen from the discoloration at the upper portion of this plant and the discoloration at crown area. This plant may not survive. This is typical of what we were seeing in Nuckolls/Thayer counties with the 8-10″ of rain they received there. My concerns for corn at this point are bacterial diseases such as this or Goss’ wilt that may continue to reduce stands through the season. Some growers are considering a fungicide application but fungicides don’t target bacterial diseases. We’d recommend anyone considering this to consider an on-farm research experiment and I’d be happy to help set this up for you.
These soybeans were reduced to stems yet are showing new growth 5 days later. UNL research has shown that soybean stands can be greatly reduced without a significant yield effect. Several growers are considering replanting; we’d recommend taking into account the research or conduct an on-farm research experiment to see any differences for yourself like this farmer did. The other thing we have looked for is bruising on stems and some flooded areas truly did not have plants survive. For more information, please check out http://cropwatch.unl.edu.
Crop Update June 5
This year I was counting my blessings as we made it through May with no tornadoes in Clay County and no Memorial Day storms! Yet history seems to repeat itself on days. Last year, hail went through the counties north of us on June 3. This year, hail hit us on June 3rd….an estimated 30% of Clay County. Please also see the resources listed at the end of this post for more specific information regarding decision-making.
Earlier that day, I had looked at wheat in a number of counties where white heads were appearing in wheat. Most often they easily pulled from the head and weren’t more than 2% of fields. Those were attributed to wheat stem maggot. The white heads that were hard to pull from the stem were most likely due to some late frosts that we had in the area.
The evening of June 3rd resulted in various rainfall totals throughout the county and hail damage to an estimated 30% of the County. This photo is of the west fork of the Upper Big Blue River that was flooding many fields along Hwy 6 between Hwy 14 and Sutton.
This was June 4: Water along both sides of Hwy 6 from Hwy 14 to Sutton and over the road in a few areas. The road was closed on June 5th after another 3-4 inches fell in the area Thursday night. Portions of fields were flooded throughout the County and we’ll have to see how long it takes for water to recede and what temperatures do to determine any replant situations.
Corn in the V5-V6 stage ranges in hail damage. The worst damage of plants were reduced to sticks. Time will tell how well the plants recover. I’m concerned about bacterial diseases in corn-particularly Goss’ wilt showing up later…but also a bacterial rot that we were seeing in Nuckolls and Thayer Co. after the heavy rains they received last month.
Soybeans ranged from planted to V3 in the County. Many of the hail-damaged beans still had a cotyledon attached. In the past, I’ve seen new plumules shoot from the top of the stem when the growing point wasn’t too damaged. We again will need to wait and see what happens.
First cutting alfalfa is down in much of the County waiting to be baled.
Severely hailed wheat field. You can also see the amount of stripe rust present in this field. We estimated 75-80% of wheat heads in this field were broken over and wouldn’t fill the heads.
Another hail-damaged wheat photo. We have a great deal of stripe rust of wheat in the County and some farmers with livestock have chosen to hay wheat that is severely affected by stripe rust. Some did spray fungicide which has held the rust back. Others are going to just see what happens yield-wise.
For more information on hail and replant decisions, please see:
Corn Progression After August 2013 Storm
On August 1, 2013, a severe wind and hail storm damaged 170,000 acres of corn and 86,000 acres of soybeans in Clay County, Nebraska. Corn at the time of the storm was from brown silk-blister. While the storms in the Gibbon/Blue Hill areas occurred a little earlier in the growing season, the following photos show the progression of damage in the event it can be of help to those affected by 2014 storms.
Field on August 2nd that was totaled out and planted to cover crops. Where crop insurance allowed, producers considered various forage options.
Some producers chose to spray fungicides on fields with more foliar leaf tissue such as this one.
Hail damage to stalks shown 4 days after the storm.
Splitting the stalks open 4 days after the storm resulted in seeing stalk rot already beginning to set in.
Corn on August 2nd in blister stage in which hail stones made kernels all mushy on one side of the ears.
Corn ear on August 6th. Notice moldy kernels appearing on side where hail damaged ear.
Six days after the storm, the good side of the ear that didn’t receive hail damage.
Six days after the storm, the side of the ear that received hail damage.
33 days after the storm, kernels on the “good” side of ears were beginning to sprout.
33 days after the storm: Diplodia set in creating light-weight ears and brittle kernels. Sprouting occurring on damaged kernels on sides of ears. The presence of mold does not automatically mean a mycotoxin is present. Producers also wondered about the safety of feeding moldy grain to livestock.
What do Mycotoxin Levels Mean?
Last week I was receiving text messages from a few of our farmers about corn harvest results from damaged corn. Low levels of mycotoxins are being detected in samples thus far, thankfully.
A reminder, the presence of mold does not automatically mean a mycotoxin is present. The fungi producing mold have the potential to produce mycotoxins.
Here’s What the Numbers Mean…
For aflatoxin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set a recommended limit of 20ppb (parts per billion) for dairy animals, 100 ppb for breeding animals, and 300 ppb for finishing animals. To put this is simpler terms, a sample would need 20 affected kernels out of a billion kernels to be at the legal limit for dairy animals. So far, most samples are coming up at 5-6ppb which is very low.
For fumonisin, 20ppm (parts per million) is the recommended limit set by FDA for swine, 30ppm for breeding animals, 60ppm for livestock for slaughter, and 100ppm for poultry for slaughter. So, this would mean 20 affected kernels in a million kernels could cause a problem for swine. Again, our levels are averaging closer to 5ppm right now which are low.
Deoxynivalenol (DON) also known as vomitoxin is another mycotoxin being tested from grain samples. This mycotoxin causes reduced weight gain and suppresses animal feeding, especially in swine. Concentrations greater than 10ppm can result in livestock vomiting and totally refusing feed. FDA has recommended that total feed levels of DON not exceed 5 ppm for cattle and chicken, and 1 ppm for swine.
It is very important to sample from several places in the grain to get an accurate sample for damage and mycotoxins. It is also very important that black light tests are not used to determine the presence or absence of mycotoxins. Some of these mold fungi produce a compound that fluoresces under black light, but research has shown that this quality does not consistently predict the presence of mycotoxins (often provides false positives). Finally, before any of your storm-damaged corn is put in a bin, call your insurance agent out to get a sample!
Protecting Your Health with a Mask
There is some great information from the University of Nebraska Med Center on what types of masks to use to protect your health from molds and potential mycotoxins. Some people tend to have more sensitive immune and respiratory systems than others, so I’d highly recommend checking out these short videos.
Forage Options After the Storm
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Town Hall Discussion on such short notice last week! It was cool watching
everyone come together to discuss the concerns at hand. Here’s a recap of some of the discussion regarding forage options. We also have provided numerous articles this week and will again next week at UNL’s CropWatch website. I will continue to post more about our local conditions on my blog.
Forage Options
Dr. Bruce Anderson explained that the best potential usage of storm damaged corn that won’t go for grain is to use it for silage. He stressed that the silage has to be made at the correct moisture and packed well-and that standing corn could be over 80% moisture right now. He mentioned the easiest and maybe the best way to lower moisture content is to simply wait until some stalks start to turn brown. This will also allow the surviving corn to continue to add tonnage. If waiting isn’t desirable, reduce moisture by windowing the crop and allow it to wilt one-half to one full day before chopping. You also could mix grain or chopped hay with freshly chopped corn to lower the moisture content. It takes quite a bit of material for mixing though — about 7 bushels of grain or 350 pounds of hay to lower each ton of silage from 80% to 70% moisture. When making silage, he recommended adding the inoculant during the chopping process to allow for proper fermentation.
He mentioned haying and baling were an option but that he was concerned about the amount of time it would take for the stalks to dry down at the current moisture. He recommended crimping the stalks if at all possible to help aid in the drying process. Be sure to test it for nitrates before feeding.
Grazing might be the easiest way to use damaged corn, and this is a good way to extend your grazing season. You might even plant some corn grain or sorghum-sudangrass or oats and turnips between rows to grow more forage for grazing if you can wait until late fall before grazing. Be sure to introduce livestock slowly to this new forage by feeding them before turning them in to reduce the chances of digestive problems. Also, strip graze the field to reduce trampling losses and get more grazing.
Shredding was mentioned as an option in some fields. Dr. Bob Klein observed two years ago in the wind storm out in western Nebraska that shredding of plant material led to piles after wind drifted loose material in the field. That made for a difficult planting situation the following year. Making earlage was also mentioned as an option.
Additional Resources:
- Forage Options with Damaged Corn
- Planting Cover Crops Into Storm Damaged Fields
- Tips for Planting Fall Forages and Other Salvage Uses
- Flying Turnips or Rye into Corn or Soybeans
- Making Silage? Protect Your Investment for the Long Term
- Great deal of information regarding forage options (mostly related to drought), but good info. to sift through at: http://droughtresources.unl.edu/corn
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