To increase return per hectare and profit, production of earlage (ensiled high-moisture harvested chopped corn ears) has increased. Compared with high moisture shelled corn grain (HMSC), yield of DM as earlage is 15 to 19% greater; field grain loss is less, harvest is simpler (grain need not be shelled from the cob), and “built-in-roughage” (cob and husk) reduces the need for added forage with no additional cost of production. Effects of harvest timing on yield, composition, and in situ digestibility were examined. In trial 1, ears from 6 hybrids grown at 2 locations harvested at 3 grain maturities (56 to 87% grain DM) were separated into grain, cob, and husk plus shank portions. Within the optimum harvest moisture for HMSC (minimum of 65% for maximum grain yield and maximum of 74% for adequate fermentation), earlage contained 4.0 to 5.6% less DM. Thereby; the optimum DM range for earlage harvest to parallel HMSC would be 60 to 69% DM. For simplicity, the optimum stage for harvest for earlage can be appraised by DM content of samples of shelled grain (optimum being 65 to 74% DM). Across hybrids and growing locations, ranges in percentage of earlage DM derived from grain, cob, and husk were 81 to 85%, 7.6 to 10.8%, and 5.7 to 8.9%, respectively. Heavier ears had less cob due to incomplete grain fill of cob tips, so high plant density or other factors that decrease ear size increase the percentage of cob in earlage. Irrigation timing and other traits (e.g., stay-green) may alter moisture distribution within ears. In trial 2, ears from 4 hybrids, one being a BMR, were harvested on 6 dates (60.6 to 80.2% DM) and ensiled for 0, 30, 60, 120, or 240 d. NDF content of earlage differed with hybrid and maturity due to changes in the break point between the cob and the shank. In situ NDFD was greater (P < 0.01) for the BMR hybrid (67 vs 58 to 62%). Delaying harvest decreased NDF content from 26% to 20% and in situ NDFD at 48 h from 71 to 57% (due to cob maturation) without changing DM disappearance. With longer durations of storage, curvilinear decreases in NDF content (22 vs 24% of DM) and in situ NDFD (60 vs 65% of NDF) were detected, but ranking of hybrids was not altered by fermentation time.