SDSU Extension and the South Dakota Center for Farm and Ranch Management have developed the Silage/Earlage Decision Aid to use in estimating costs of silage production.

The tool answers the commonly asked questions that arise when cutting a crop for silage such as:
•What is the value per acre if the crop is harvested as silage?
•What will the crop yield for silage?
•What is the cost of the silage delivered to the bunk?
•How many acres do I need to cut to meet my feed inventory needs?

Silage harvest is underway at the MoDak Dairy near Goodwin, S.D. Photo: MoDak

You are able to your own numbers to estimate your costs. The individual estimates that you may enter include expected cash corn price, silage dry matter, estimated grain yield, harvesting costs and value of stover removed.

"The Silage/Earlage Decision Aid calculator is a useful tool for crop producers and livestock feeders to estimate silage costs," says Jack B. Davis, SDSU Extension crops business management field specialist.

The Decision Aid is available in two versions a quick version and a downloadable full version.

Source: SDSU Extension