Advice on corn chopper and silage

[shadyhollownj]

Ok so I have 15-20 mommas and run a registered cow/calf. We only have 20 acres of pasture and 22 acres of hay ground. Feed is killing us and we are looking to start feeding corn silage and alfalfa. I am looking to put in 10 acres of corn doublecropped with trical 815. I wanna chop 7 acres and cob corn the other three. I already have a planter and two row picker lined up from a neighbor. I am gonna use a bunker silo and I am a concrete contractor so pad and big blocks arent a problem. I have a 2011 NH T5050 95hp 11,000 lbs with filled tires. I am looking for a one row picker and need to know what are some good models. Now our ground can be wet so I dont know if there is models that can pull a wagon in line with the tractor if thats possible. I know I will be offset with the picker but I will deal with it for three acres. Any help with the process or equipment recommendations would be great. I also have a neighbor that chops 8 acres for himself but he does 40,000 horse hay bales so he never has the time and uses a bigger tractor with a two row. I gotta see how much he would charge for 7 acres and if he would be interested.

 

[cowgirl_jenna]

I would prob. try and hire the chopping done. Choppers are pretty expensive to maintain and you would need forage boxes too. For 7 ac. I think you could hire it done much cheaper then do it yourself, that be true "here" anyway, but we have several custom chopping guys here too. Many of the dairies, even the big ones, hire their feed chopped. If you do make a pile/bunker silo, be sure to pack it really good and chop when the corn is pretty wet, it'll keep much better then if it gets dry. This can be the problem with custom hire, getting it done on time. I'd see what your neighbor says, and go from there.

Far as picking, New idea made one row pickers that worked fairly well, would sometimes shell the corn some though if it got dry. The old McCormick one rows did a good job. When I was young, we had a john Deere husker, and it was the best picker around. No shelling and it husked the corn very well. It was a 3 row narrow, but they had 2 row wide too. They seem to go fairy high at auctions though still. Over-all, I'd keep my eyes open, and look around for a picker thats in good shape and resnobly priced. The one rows around here go pretty cheap.

Oh and i was going to add, corn silage if fed correctly really stretches a hay supply, and if you can double crop the triticale thats a big bonus too.
Jenna

 

[shadyhollownj]

So after checking into everything I may hold off on the silage until I grow the herd some more. I do like the idea though. I am just gonna go the ear corn route for now. My neighbor has a two row picker he is going to upgrade so i am buying his old one.

Jenna how does the triticale work out for you. I was gonna put it in this year but the trical 815 was sold out because of the drought. I would think cutting it early for round bales would be ok for feeding steers since they dont need that much protein in hay. I put in cereal rye for straw and a few round bales of roughage for steers. Everything I read on triticale is great yields and protein if managed right.

 

[Dave]

There is a dairy near me that puts in several hundred acres of corn silage. They chop the corn in early October and plant triticale right after chopping. They chop the triticale for silage in early May and plant corn again. The triticale does great and harvested at that early stage of growth has plenty of protein. Not as much energy as the corn but higher protein.

 

[cowgirl_jenna]

We plant a lot of rye, but triticale is a cross with rye. Trit will have a better feed value. If you want real good feed cut it before it heads. If you are looking for more of a filler, cut after it begins to head out. The quality really goes down fast after it has headed. Both are a scavenger, and will "scavenge" any left over nitrogen after the previous crop. Small grain seeds are in tight supply here too, as like said a lot of the carry over last year was planted for emergency forage crops last fall.
Jenna