I know a lot of growers bale off cornstalks as roughage. And now some of those baled stalks are being ground pelletized for other industrial uses.

So I believe there must be some rule of thumb between grain moisture and stalk dryness that could help determine when stalks are suitable to bale? If you know what that rule is, please share it with us. With interest in harvesting stalks growing with more markets becoming available - farmers will need to know this rule to time when their can

I even bale off some cornstalks for roughage after we complete our late harvest when corn is down to 16% or less. y routine is to bale 7 to 10 days after combining is done. There is no science behind this but it seems to work out. And I tell folks that want to bale stalks to wait at least a week to let crushed stalks dry before raking and baling.

So is there a real relationship between stalk moisture and when to bale stalks? I asked Bruce Anderson, forage extension specialist at the University of Nebraska this very question and he said he thought that they could be baled immediately after the corn was combined. He said that wetter than normal stalks could store longer than wetter than normal hay. But he hadn't done any research on this and with farmers harvesting wetter corn and with stalks sometimes having a green tinge, I have my doubts whether this is true.

However Anderson did point out that you can't wait too long to bale because rains will cause husks and leaves to start to decay and reduce the quality. That I agree with.

I believe it's true if you are harvesting corn in the 14 to 16% moisture range that you can bale immediately. But when farmers take out corn in the 20 to 25% range, stalks could be too wet to bale immediately and perhaps you need to let the crushed stalks dry a week in the field first?

Generally this isn't an issue because cornstalks aren't really baled up until after harvest is all done. It is one of those tasks growers do along with fall tillage and fertilizer after harvest is done.

If you know the rule, post it here as a comment, email it to me at daniel.davidson@dtn.com or call me at 402-968-0942.