So unless you live in a cave, you know that we have quite a drought on our hands. See that red and deep red color all over that image below. Ya that's not good. Not good, at, all!
So since it has been so dry this year, the farmers have been running their irrigation systems like crazy to try and save their crops. But, not all fields have irrigation, so the dry land crops have taken quite a terrible hit this year.
Ya that corn, it should be bright green. Not brown.
In a normal year, the corn would not start to dry until sometime in September-November. Then when corn is dry to about only 18 percent moisture it would be harvested with combines and the corn kernals would be harvested as grain. But since it has been such an extreme drought this year, some of the corn plants didn't even produce any ears of corn. So basically, it is just a stalk. So instead of wasting the crop completely, we chop the corn plant and all into silage. Which is fed to cattle.
The corn is chopped up and loaded into trucks.
The silage is then dumped into piles.
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| Pappa Lyle directing traffic. I think he likes giving orders :) (dont tell him i said that. haha) |
Once the corn is dumped, we use tractors to pack the silage tight into bunkers where it is then covered to protect it from the elements and keep it fresh to eat for the cattle.
I like to look at this process and say... When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade, or Chop Corn Silage, whatever suits your fancy.
...that's what she said
Ashley
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