cypressfarms":3n56hnnh said:
Nice looking cattle there SRBeef,
I'm curious about the corn. Did you plant this corn specifically for the cows to have for the winter? We don't really see that done down here. Not sure if that would be better/worse than ryegrass, but I'd be interested in finding out. I'm not really set up to plant row crops, but I bet with the old big Ford tractor, something could be worked out.
Sorry to take so long to reply. As Angie's link points out, no, I did not intend to graze un-harvested stalks. The plan was to harvest the corn with a combine then graze whatever is left over behind the combine. There generally is some corn ears lost by the corn head and lots of cobs etc coming out the back of the combine along with the stalk portion still standing.
Historically this grazing of harvested stalks was common in the corn belt when many farmers had corn AND cattle and combines lost quite a bit of corn. Nowadays combines are losing very little corn so most of the grazing is stalks not ears and few corn growers have cattle or fences to hold them. You still see it sometimes on the western edge of the corn belt where cattle and corn meet.
One benefit is that it provides some grazing at a time and in areas where the only alternative is to feed hay or stored feeds, both of which are expensive and equipment intensive. I am thinking more and more about doing a small area of corn and intentionally leaving it unharvested every fall for grazing just like this. There is an incredible amount of potential feed out there per acre. And leaving it standing makes it more accessible to the cattle in the deep snow we've had the past two winters.
One problem to be aware of if you try this is to beware of nitrate poisoning. I almost lost a cow due to it. I think I described that above. Don't use as much N fertilizer as you would for harvesting grain. This also reduces the cost.
I stopped by a livestock auction the other day and sat through some of it. Some very nice, good looking 400 lb weaned steer calves with shots sold for about 65 cents a pound. I'll be darned if I am going to go through all this trouble and sell calves for 65 cents a pound. How can you stay in business with prices like that? These should have sold for 1.20-1.30 in the past. I had to really sit on my hands and count to 10 to avoid bidding on them.
Grazing the corn seems to me like it will let me finish my own - sort of like a self-service feedlot!
I don't know if this would work in Louisiana but it might. If you have the time to manage it, I think what I would do is to try a small patch of field corn, just a little N, RR makes weed control easier, let it mature down to about 25% moisture (higher moisture means more tummy aches) and let them graze the standing stalks for maybe 3-4 hours a day to start and see how it goes. I would not make this standing corn their only source of feed. I have hay available free choice at all times and that keeps the rumen going. You also need good mineral with some protein available.
Then compare the cow days you get from the corn to any other alternative grazing this time of year such as stockpiled fescue? It may depend on your operation, goals and time available.
There were a couple head we harvested in Nov after about 6 weeks on the corn and I think you could really see more marbling in the beef. I am looking forward to checking out the beef from steers we will harvest in spring after grazing longer.
Your climate is very different. I would experiment on a small scale before doing a lot of this grazing of corn. However with cattle prices the way they are I think we need to look at doing SOMETHING different. jmho.
Good luck.
