Fond du Lac County Corn Silage Moisture Testing Results

Let Whole Plant Moisture Be Your Guide to Harvest Time!

The best lactation performance by dairy cows has been shown to occur when corn silage is harvested at 65-70 percent moisture. This range of whole plant moisture also works well for achieving good packing and silage fermentation in horizontal silos. Determining whole plant moisture prior to harvest is one management practice to ensure high-quality forages.

Thank you to the following businesses for their financial support:
Country Visions | Bayer (Dekalb) | Syngenta (NK) | FS Insight | Corteva (Brevant)
Winfield United (Croplan) | Hundertmark Seed | Hodorff Seed & Agronomy
Oakfield Elevator | Farmers Elevator | Rock River Seed & Chemical | Prairie Rock Seed
CP Feeds | United Coop | Dairyland Seed | Lonnie Boelk (Spangler)
Community Ag Service | Eden Equipment | Miritz Custom Chopping


August 29, 2023

Results are as follows with 14 samples submitted to Dairyland Laboratories, Depere for lab moisture analysis:

September 05, 2023

101 samples were submitted for lab analysis of corn whole plant moisture to help determine the optimal time to harvest corn silage.

September 12, 2023

September 19, 2023

2022 Corn Silage Dry Down Days Results

Country Visions | Bayer (Dekalb) | Syngenta (NK) | FS Insight | Corteva (Brevant)
Winfield United (Croplan) | Hundertmark Seed | Hodorff Seed & Agronomy
Oakfield Elevator | Farmers Elevator | Rock River Seed & Chemical | Prairie Rock Seed
CP Feeds | United Coop | Dairyland Seed | Lonnie Boelk (Spangler)
Community Ag Service | Eden Equipment | Miritz Custom Chopping


September 13, 2022

Forty-six (46) samples were submitted to Dairyland Laboratories for analysis on September 13, 2022. Overall the moisture was approximately 62.98% to 76.27% moisture.

September 06, 2022

Ninety-seven (97) samples were submitted to Dairyland Laboratories for analysis on September 6, 2022. Overall the moisture was approximately 63.25% to 75.04% moisture.

August 30, 2022

Twelve (12) samples were submitted to Dairyland Laboratories for analysis on August 30, 2022. Overall the moisture was approximately 64.92% to 76.84% moisture.

2021 Corn Silage Dry Down Days Results

Thank you to the following businesses for their financial support:
Country Visions | Bayer (Dekalb) | Syngenta (NK) | FS Insight | Corteva (Brevant)
CP Feeds | Winfield United (Croplan) | Hundertmark Seed | Hodorff Seed & Agronomy
Oakfield Elevator | Farmers Elevator | Rock River Seed & Chemical | Prairie Rock Seed
United Coop | Dairyland Seed | Lonnie Boelk (Spangler) | Community Ag Service

September 7, 2021

Fifty-four (54) samples were submitted to UW-Marshfield Soils and Forage Laboratory for analysis on September 7, 2021. Overall the moisture was approximately 64.07% to 75.52% moisture.


August 31, 2021

One hundred twenty-nine (129) samples were submitted to UW-Marshfield Soils and Forage Laboratory for analysis on August 31, 2021. Overall the moisture was approximately 58.17% to 75.46% moisture.


August 24, 2021

Thirty (30) samples were submitted to UW-Marshfield Soils and Forage Laboratory for analysis on August 24, 2021. Overall the moisture was approximately 68.49% to 75.60% moisture.

2020 Corn Silage Dry Down Day Results


September 8, 2020

With early planting and strong growing conditions in 2020, we are on track to get our corn harvested in a much more timely fashion this fall. Remember that we generally plan to lose about ½% moisture per day this time of the year. More when it is warmer and less when the temperatures are cooler.

Harvest DateTotal SamplesMinimumMaximumAverageStandard Deviation
9-8-20203963.4%74.3%68.9%2.6%
september 8 csdd graph

September 1, 2020

With early planting and strong growing conditions in 2020, we are on track to get our corn harvested in a much more timely fashion this fall. Remember that we generally plan to lose about ½% moisture per day this time of the year. More when it is warmer and less when the temperatures are cooler.

Harvest DateTotal SamplesMinimumMaximumAverageStandard Deviation
9-1-202010763.9%75.9%70.5%2.4%
9-2-2020 graph

August 25, 2020

With early planting and strong growing conditions in 2020, we are on track to get our corn harvested in a much more timely fashion this fall. Remember that we generally plan to lose about ½% moisture per day this time of the year.  More when it is warmer and less when the temperatures are cooler.

Harvest DateTotal SamplesMinimumMaximumAverageStandard Deviation
8/25/20203365.70%77.70%72.30%3.20%
drydown aug 25 2020

2019 Corn Silage Dry Day Results

October 1, 2019

Twenty-three (23) samples were submitted to UW-Marshfield Soils and Forage Laboratory for analysis on October 1, 2019. Overall the moisture was approximately 62.38% to 78.97% moisture.

Results of the October 1 corn silage dry down


September 24, 2019

Fifty-one (51) samples were submitted to UW-Marshfield Soils and Forage Laboratory for analysis on September 24, 2019. Overall the moisture was approximately 59.73% to 75.33% moisture.

Results of the September 24 corn silage dry down


September 17, 2019

Seventy-two (72) samples were submitted to UW-Marshfield Soils and Forage Laboratory for analysis on September 17, 2019. Overall the moisture was approximately 60.3% to 76.6% moisture.

Results of the September 17 corn silage dry down

2018 Corn Silage Dry Down Day Results

September 11, 2018


September 4, 2018


August 28, 2018

Twenty-eight (28) samples were submitted to the laboratory on August 28th. Overall, the average moisture was approximately 75%. The moisture ranged from 67.0% to 77.1% among the 28 samples. Results are as follows.


Thank you to our sponsors for their support of the 2018 Fond du Lac County Forage Council’s Corn Silage Moisture Testing Program:
Croplan Seeds/Winfield Solutions | Dekalb Seeds/Monsanto | Mycogen Seeds/Dow Agro Sciences
NK Seeds/Syngenta | Hodorff Agronomy & Seed | Dairyland Seed | Vellema Seed-Pioneer
Country Visions Coop | CP Feeds | Oakfield Elevator | Community Ag Service | Landmark Coop | Farmers Elevator
Fond du Lac County Forage Council | UW-Extension Fond du Lac County
Midwest Forage Association

2017 Corn Silage Dry Day Results

September 19, 2017
Twenty-nine samples were submitted to the laboratory on September 19th. Overall, the average moisture was 68.8% The moisture ranged from 63.2% to 73.4% among the 29 samples. Results are as follows. Warm temperatures predicted for the next few days could increase the drying in excess of the typical ½% per day.


September 12, 2017
Eight-eight samples were submitted to the laboratory on September 12th. Overall, the average moisture was 69.3%. The moisture ranged from 58.9% to 80.1% among the 88 samples. Results are as follows.


September 5, 2017 Results
Thirty-three samples were submitted to the laboratory on September 5th. Overall, the average moisture was 73.6%. The moisture ranged from 68% to 78% among the 33 samples. Results are as follows.


Thank you to our sponsors for their support of the 2017 Fond du Lac County Forage Council’s Corn Silage Moisture Testing Program:
Croplan Seeds/Winfield Solutions | Dekalb Seeds/Monsanto | LG Seeds | Mycogen Seeds/Dow
NK Seeds/Syngenta | Country Visions Coop | CP Feeds | Oakfield Elevator | Dairyland Seeds
Insight FS Coop

Fond du Lac County Forage Council | UW-Extension Fond du Lac County | Midwest Forage Association

2016 Corn Silage Dry Down Day Results

September 1, 2016 Results
Eighty-nine samples were submitted to the laboratory on September 1st. However, several of the samples did not have enough complete data (i.e. planting date, hybrid maturity date and/or location), so some of the results are not  posted. Overall, the average moisture was 66.5%. The moisture ranged from 58% to 72% among the 89 samples. Results are as follows.


August 26, 2016 Results

Sixty-four samples were submitted to the laboratory on August 26th. However, several of the samples did not have enough complete data (i.e. planting date, hybrid maturity date and/or location), so some of the results are not  posted. Overall, the average moisture was 68%. The moisture ranged from 58% to 74% among the 64  samples. Results are as follows.


2015 Corn Silage Dry Down Day Results

September 15, 2015 Results

Forty-seven samples were submitted for moisture analysis through the UW-Soils & Forage Analysis Laboratory on September 15th.  Results are as follows. Use 0.5% (0% to 1%) range per day as an average dry down rate during the month of September.


September 8, 2015 Results

Twenty samples were submitted for moisture analysis through the UW-Soils & Forage Analysis Laboratory on September 8th.  Results are as follows.


September 1, 2015 Results

One hundred samples were submitted for moisture analysis through the UW-Soils & Forage Analysis Laboratory on September 1st.  Results are as follows.


August 25, 2015 Results

Eighteen samples were submitted for moisture analysis through the UW-Soils & Forage Analysis Laboratory on August 25th.  Results are as follows.