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Corn Milk Line Indicates Harvest Time for Silage
The corn kernel milk line is an easy way to determine when to chop for silage.
Learn to read it, and you've got a year-in, year-out harvest indicator.
Gather corn after the kernels have dented. Remove the husk and break the ear about a third of the way up from the butt end.
Study the snapped ends. The milk line is in the face of the tip end. It marks the transition between solid starch on the dent end and the liquid starch towards the kernel tip.
When the milk line has worked its way half-way down the kernel, fodder moisture is 68% - about the upper limit for good silage making. When the line has progressed to a fourth of the way from the cob, total plant moisture will be about 64%. When it's just reached the cob, plant moisture will be 60%, the lowest level at which top-quality silage still can be made.
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