Chopping corn

[Bigfoot]

A friend of mine is going to have about 15 acres of corn chopped. It'll be just. Put on the ground, not in a pit, or bag. He doesn't have a price contracted, and it will worth more to him this way. Will this work? If so, I'm all in.

 

[bigbull338]

youll have to cover the pile with plastic.to let the corn ensile.your right you dont need a piy to store silage.

 

[Bigfoot]

According to him, a guy one county over has done it 3 years in row, with no tarp. I hadn't seen it, I don't know. I told him a billboard tarp might be enough. It'll be $150 acre to have chopped. He's expecting 22 tons per acre. Is that about right? If it works, and you get that kind of tonage, I'm all in for next year.

 

[TexasBred]

According to him, a guy one county over has done it 3 years in row, with no tarp. I hadn't seen it, I don't know. I told him a billboard tarp might be enough. It'll be $150 acre to have chopped. He's expecting 22 tons per acre. Is that about right? If it works, and you get that kind of tonage, I'm all in for next year.

By chopping I assume you mean corn silage. In the midwest they might get that much but down here it runs more like 16-18 tons to an acre. Packing is probably the most important part of the process. It needs to be packed hard enough that it will actually go through the ensiling process. If put down loosely it will just rot...covered or not. Keep in mind that it will be over 60% moisture so will require a much higher feeding rate. But cattle love it.

 

[Bigfoot]

According to him, a guy one county over has done it 3 years in row, with no tarp. I hadn't seen it, I don't know. I told him a billboard tarp might be enough. It'll be $150 acre to have chopped. He's expecting 22 tons per acre. Is that about right? If it works, and you get that kind of tonage, I'm all in for next year.

By chopping I assume you mean corn silage. In the midwest they might get that much but down here it runs more like 16-18 tons to an acre. Packing is probably the most important part of the process. It needs to be packed hard enough that it will actually go through the ensiling process. If put down loosely it will just rot...covered or not.

Thanks, and yes it would be run thru a silage chopper.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

We did this for 40 years with no problems. What we did was make sure it was good and green and spent plenty of time packing. We used a td7 dresser dozer and spent plenty of time running across the pile. My grandfathers test was when the silage was tight enough that you had a hard time digging a hole in it with your bare hands it was about right.
When the pile was finished we would dig a ditch about 5 inches deep all the way around it, and cover the pile with black plastic, making sure it hung out past the ditch. Then we would put the dirt back on top of the plastic, sealing it off. Next old tires were scattered over the rest of the pile to hold down the plastic. When we fed the silage that winter there would be about three inches of rotted on top and a couple inches on the bottom.

 

[Bigfoot]

We did this for 40 years with no problems. What we did was make sure it was good and green and spent plenty of time packing. We used a td7 dresser dozer and spent plenty of time running across the pile. My grandfathers test was when the silage was tight enough that you had a hard time digging a hole in it with your bare hands it was about right.
When the pile was finished we would dig a ditch about 5 inches deep all the way around it, and cover the pile with black plastic, making sure it hung out past the ditch. Then we would put the dirt back on top of the plastic, sealing it off. Next old tires were scattered over the rest of the pile to hold down the plastic. When we fed the silage that winter there would be about three inches of rotted on top and a couple inches on the bottom.

I've got a one bottom plow. That might be just right to do what you are talking about. I don't have anything to pack it down with. I think his plan was to pile it, with nothing on it. It didn't seem plausable, to do what he was talking about.

 

[Banjo]

If you don't pack it, it will just rot deeper, how deep I don't know.....wherever air can get to is where it will rot. You want it to silage, not compost. The bigger the pile the better. Anyway to pack it would probably pay, even if you had to hire a dozer or rent one for an hour or two.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

We did this for 40 years with no problems. What we did was make sure it was good and green and spent plenty of time packing. We used a td7 dresser dozer and spent plenty of time running across the pile. My grandfathers test was when the silage was tight enough that you had a hard time digging a hole in it with your bare hands it was about right.
When the pile was finished we would dig a ditch about 5 inches deep all the way around it, and cover the pile with black plastic, making sure it hung out past the ditch. Then we would put the dirt back on top of the plastic, sealing it off. Next old tires were scattered over the rest of the pile to hold down the plastic. When we fed the silage that winter there would be about three inches of rotted on top and a couple inches on the bottom.

I've got a one bottom plow. That might be just right to do what you are talking about. I don't have anything to pack it down with. I think his plan was to pile it, with nothing on it. It didn't seem plausable, to do what he was talking about.

A single plow would work great for this, but grandpa never wanted to do anything the easy way. You will have to cover it with something air tight to keep the silage from rotting.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

If you don't pack it, it will just rot deeper, how deep I don't know.....wherever air can get to is where it will rot. You want it to silage, not compost. The bigger the pile the better. Anyway to pack it would probably pay, even if you had to hire a dozer or rent one for an hour or two.

Before we got the dozer we used a john deere 2150 with a blade on the back to pack with and it worked alright. We Have also used a Jd 310 backhoe to pack. Just rember that the heavier the better. Whatever you use make sure it has a roll bar and seat belts. Silage will move under you some, and packing the edges because of this can get a little hairy.

 

[skyhightree1]

I will chop maybe 100 acres of the worst corn

 

[jedstivers]

It doesn't have to be covered but it helps. I'm not going to cover mine if I ever get to doing it but I think I'll make a bunker out of hay bales and sow oats real thick on top.
Has to be packed though.

 

[Bigfoot]

Long shot here. Anybody got a picture of a pile of chopped corn they've done? I can't get a mental picture of how high to go etc. I only have 65 hp 4wd with FEL. It ain't sounding like its enough to pack it. What do yaw think?

 

[Bigfoot]

I'm sidetracking my own thread here. What I'm actually planning to do is take weaned calves to 775 pounds on it. I don't look at things like most people do. I'm currently doing that with hay that have 4 cents a pound in, and triple third mix that I have 11 cents a pound in. If my calculations are correct, I'll have about 2.8-3 cents a pound in silage. It seems like cheap gain to me, as well as a lot roughage per acre.

 

[Till-Hill]

http://www.joscountryjunction.com/wp-co ... nker-2.JPG

Just a picture I found on internet. Our bunker here is dirt walls and concrete floor. We put plastic up on walls as we feed dairy cattle all year. If your only going to feed winter time plastic on top will be just fine. White side up. We like ours around 70-72% when we did not have a processor on chopper. Now we do so we try to get it in around 65-67%.

We pack with duals on with mfwd NH 6070. Weighs around 15,000. We hang a 3500# concrete block on quick hitch. As long as packing tractor always moving we get it packed real good. When you make your pile spread inches of silage and get a tire track on entire pile before you spread more out.

Good luck, makes great feed and cheap this year.

 

[TexasBred]

It doesn't have to be covered but it helps. I'm not going to cover mine if I ever get to doing it but I think I'll make a bunker out of hay bales and sow oats real thick on top.
Has to be packed though.

Seen that done too Jed.. works fine with only the top 3-4 inches spoiled....go ahead and feed it too. Most I've seen being put up the used large articulated rubber tire loaders for both spreading and packing. Does a good job and faster too than anything with tracks.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

Long shot here. Anybody got a picture of a pile of chopped corn they've done? I can't get a mental picture of how high to go etc. I only have 65 hp 4wd with FEL. It ain't sounding like its enough to pack it. What do yaw think?

Our pile was usuall about 30 feet wide, 150 feet long and about 8 feet tall. A 65 hp should be heavy enough to pack. The 2150 we used was much lighter and it did ok. Just keep someone on it all the time they are chopping. You never mentioned what was going to be used to chop your corn. We used a single row chopper, so packing time was not much of a problem. The faster the silage is coming in the more weight you are going to need on the pile. You should be fine with using your tractor to pack I they are using a single or double row chopper, but if they are using a forage harvester that chops 8-12 rows at a time that ain't going to cut it.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

There is a contract outfit out of Yadkinville NC that chop 700 acres for Maymead in Mountain City every year. The bring in a self propelled Krone chopper, articulated eight wheel john deere with a silage blade, and about 6 tandem dump trucks. It takes them 150 seconds to chop a truck load. It is an amazing operation to watch.

 

[jedstivers]

Search silage harvesting on YouTube.

 

[Lucky_P]

BF,
Be sure to test nitrate levels...we've been seeing some in the toxic range.
It'll diminish significantly during the ensiling process, but if you start out high enough, it can still kill 'em when it's finished.