Many producers in central and east-central Iowa are facing severely damaged corn fields from the recent August 10th derecho. With poor quality grain not suitable for the general grain market or storage, and fields that are not mechanically harvestable, a producer might consider salvaging some value through livestock feed and forage options.
Field Ag Engineers Kristina TeBockhorst and Brian Dougherty recorded two video podcasts to get some of this information out to producers, which have been posted on the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative Website. The first podcast on grazing and baling wind-damaged corn is available at this link. The second podcast with Garland Dahlke, Assistant Scientist in the Iowa State University Animal Science Department, details silage and dry grain quality and nutritive expectations for damaged corn fields, testing recommendations, and pricing adjustment considerations.
Before making any grain or forage harvest decisions, producers should discuss their options with their crop insurance provider. An additional resource for this podcast is the "Corn Quality Problems Could Mean Opportunity for Cattle Feeders: http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/information/DamagedCorn.pdf.