Stocker Steve":2j5n3s5y said:
- You see some interesting $/bu corn cost claims on rotated acres. Less tillage passes, less herbicide, less N...
- You also see a few guys who graze standing corn through the winter. Some strip combine it and then strip graze it (each MIG strip has mostly combined stalks but it also contains 25% or so of standing corn to indirectly control the grain intake).
- Have you run any what if calculations on a winter growing operation like this?
Steve, I'm not sure what what if numbers you are thinking about.
My options are somewhat constrained by the fact that I can grow very good continuous corn with minimal equipment which I own. However I do not own a combine, cart, dryer nor bins. Custom combining corn rarely pencils out well especially with the wet corn this fall, still standing in many fields nearby.
I've done this for 6 or 7 years now. After the calves leave the corn strips in late April I run an Aerway at an angle to the stalks which knocks down anything still standing, breaks up compaction 8" deep but leaves most of the root balls in the ground. The Aerway also breaks up and incorporates much of the calves manure piles and any plowdown fertilizer needed. Although with the manure soil test shown no P or K needed in the past couple years.
I let the ground firm up for a couple weeks and hopefully a couple rains then run my Pluribus 6R30 strip till machine between the still visible rootballs applying liquid N as 28% and usually plant the next day, about the 10th of May. I plant a very good local seed company's RR corn. I spray once with RU shortly after emergence with my simple 3-point sprayer and I'm done.
This corn produces a lot of feed per acre. And if I use the right variety it will stand until April. The corn gets a good head start on weeds in the fresh strip tilled ground. I spray once and after that I don't worry too much about a few weeds or volunteer corn as the calves will graze them anyway. A few thistles etc that survive the RU I hit with a hoe as I come through with a 4 wheeler.
End result is I can grow pretty good maybe 175 bu corn with one 90 hp tractor for a pretty low cost. At 250 steer-days/acre if finishing (400 if I make them clear their plate) I tend to think in terms of how many bales of hay that would take. The grazing corn puts a tremendous finish and taste on 13 month old steers. The beef is wonderful. Not really finished by feedlot standards but it works for me if I can get them close to my 1100 lb goal by late April. Another goal of mine is to not have 2 years calves on the place for more than a couple weeks overlap in the spring. Birth to processing in around 13 months. After hanging for a couple weeks, great beef on the table at 14 months and in time for the grilling season.
I did have my corn custom combined a couple years and grazed the stalks but grazing harvested stalks doesn't work to well when the snow gets a foot or more deep. While unharvested stalks of the right variety are holding the more palatable parts: ears, husks and upper leaves, up high in easy reach. The cost and compaction caused by hiring conventional corn harvest along with the drying bill most years is not very attractive. Once I get my herd numbers up my grazing system will look even better.
The system is also building my clay hillside soils, about eliminates erosion compared to conventional tillage, and seems to yield as well as any rotation. Corn produces a tremendous amount of organic matter, most of which is returned to the soil in this system. The only thing that leaves that strip is pounds of beef.
Then numbers might look completely different for a grain farmer with all the corn harvesting equipment, dryer, bins etc who was doing this on the side.
Happy New Year!
Jim
