More Kansas growers are cutting down their corn crops for silage to feed livestock as they struggle to salvage what they can from parched fields hard hit by another season of drought and heat.

Jere White, executive director of the Kansas Corn Growers Association, said Wednesday it is premature to get a handle yet on how much of the state’s corn crop is going into silage this year, but says quite a bit of it is being cut. He says that is not a bad option under the circumstances.

The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported this week that 43 percent of the state’s corn crop is in poor to very poor condition.

White says he was not totally surprised by that estimate, but says it is “a staggering prediction.”