Wednesday, September 19
I heard the unique sound of the corn harvester about noon on Wednesday, and took pictures periodically throughout the day and evening.
One field finished
If you look over the tractor, you can see the tractors that are being driven over the silage that was placed in one of the trenches. The guys drive over it, packing it down, until it is packed to their satisfaction, then it is covered to preserve it for feed for the cows until this time next year.
Farmers work late during corn harvest.
By morning we again had a view of our valley.
The men were still driving on the silage – and had probably been there all night.
Because my friend Janet asked how silage is still edible the following summer, I asked my brother Dale. This was his answer: The chopped corn is packed tightly to press out as much oxygen as possible. It is then covered with plastic to seal it and then naturally occurring bacteria break down the sugars into acetic acid (vinegar) to preserve it. If oxygen is introduced, it rots. A simple explanation, but a fermentation process similar to wine making.
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I love our country life.
So the cows are fed silage from the corn harvest from a year earlier? Is there fresh food mixed in too?
Yes, they get a mixture. Since I am not on a farm anymore, I am not sure what it is, but I know they like it because it is fun to be at the barn when the feed wagon puts food in their feed trough. 🙂
How interesting! I would have thought it would ferment or degrade to mulch over the course of a year — maybe that’s why the cows like it!
I will have to ask one of my brothers how that works – and how it stays edible for the cows.
That would be interesting, if/when you have a chance to ask. Thank you.
My brother Dale says this is the simple answer: The chopped corn is packed tightly to press out as much oxygen as possible. It is then covered with plastic to seal it and then naturally occurring bacteria break down the sugars into acetic acid (vinegar) to preserve it. If oxygen is introduced, it rots. A simple explanation, but a fermentation process similar to wine making.
Thanks, Doris — that makes a lot of sense that they would squeeze the oxygen out of the corn and let the sugars do their work. And it makes sense, then, that the cows would like a mixture that includes the slightly sweetened fermented corn. There’s SO MUCH that a “city girl” never knows about the production of our food!