Corn producers that delayed planting their crop this past spring due to the cool, wet weather are in a race with a killing frost to see who wins first. Will corn finish first by a nose and reach physiological maturity, or will killing frost win and cut the crop development short of reaching maturity?
If frost or the lack of enough growing-degree days wins, many corn producers may be faced with corn that is too wet to combine. To help those in this dilemma, the Michigan Hay Listing Network is adding corn silage to their list of available forages.
Early on, the Michigan Hay Listing Network provided dry hay producers and users with an online tool to buy or sell their hay crops. With the addition of more wet forages available, haylage and baleage were added to the website. In 2019, the network will be adding more forage options for those who may need to find a buyer or seller of a corn silage crop.
The state of Michigan has been divided into five regions for producers to market their forage crops. They can choose to market in any or all of the regions. The list is a user-friendly way to market forages to those outside of their local area. All producers are asked to put a price on the forage crop and provide contact information as a forage supplier. Often, it is difficult to put a price on a standing corn silage crop.
This list is developed with the cooperation of the Michigan Forage Council, Michigan Farm Bureau and Michigan State University Extension. All listings are free of charge. All listings are deleted automatically from the database four months after the day of posting.
For more information, email Phil Kaatz, or call (810) 667-0341. 
Philip Kaatz is a forage management and field crops educator in commercial agriculture and food and animal systems with Michigan State University Extension.
—Excerpts from the Michigan State University Extension website, Sept. 26, 2019
