corn stalk for feed

[lakeviewwalker]

Wondering if anyone has used corn stalk bales for wintering beef cows? And if so what supplement to you give them with it I am probably gonna be short on hay and thinking about feeding some stalks to stretch my hay out

 

[bird dog]

What stage of pregnancy are your cows in?

 

[heath]

Wondering if anyone has used corn stalk bales for wintering beef cows? And if so what supplement to you give them with it I am probably gonna be short on hay and thinking about feeding some stalks to stretch my hay out

I feed corn stalk bales the last two years, the cows did well on them. I alternated grass bales inbetween corn bales. I used tubs the second half of the winter. i found that the best way to clean them up was to roll them out as thin as possible. if they are put in a ring, the hard stalks tend to pile up and they aren't able to get to the leafy parts. i was feeding mainly 3rd trimester cows.

 

[Till-Hill]

We make high moisture corn and want the stalks removed to seed rye down. So this year I made 71 high moisture stalk bales and wrapped them in a line. Cows should eat them a little better than dry ones I hope. Last winter I feed 50+ bales to 50 head of stock cows. Sure helps strectch the hay but as someone allready stated I also feed a lick tub and good mineral when feeding stalks.

 

[greybeard]

I won't be feeding any, but just curious------are there any nitrate concerns with corn stalks?

 

[TexasBred]

I won't be feeding any, but just curious------are there any nitrate concerns with corn stalks?

Not in a normal year where you have adequate rainfall and growth. Stalks make good filler but have very little nutritional value so need to be supplemented.

 

[Kscattle]

I got by last winter on corn stalk bales but just barely. They will eat them about twice as fast as hay bales since the nutrients are so low but it'll buy you some time and definetly stretches your hay supply. I fed ground corn daily anyways so I did not supplement with any tubs. My cows came out of winter in good enough shape for most but I like mine a little fatter going into grass season. Only problem was I didn't bale enough stalks to keep ALL my cows and had to sell some due to the hay shortage that everyone suffered from, but stalks helped a lot!
I tried to unroll them but most fell apart when net was cut off and there were piles of hard stalks to burn this spring that they didn't eat. I would spread out feeding areas and not feed hay till they pretty much cleaned up the stalks that they will eat. About 1/5 of the bale will be wasted, but its cheap feed. I will bale some this fall in hopes to stretch hay again this year, but I think I'll have enough to get by, I just want about 1/2 year supply to carry over next year. It might help to run a brush cutter over stalks to break them up more before baling but I don't know. I cut mine with a disk mower and raked/baled them.
Also I baled some soybean stubble hay to feed, (don't waste your time with that)

 

[Howdyjabo]

they will get more nutrition out of the stalks if you supplement some protein(need fuel for the bacteria). Sell your corn and buy some distillers or lick.

 

[Stocker Steve]

they will get more nutrition out of the stalks if you supplement some protein(need fuel for the bacteria). buy some distillers

Need to consider a protein and ionspore supplement. I used distillers, urea, and bovatec mix.

 

[TexasBred]

they will get more nutrition out of the stalks if you supplement some protein(need fuel for the bacteria). buy some distillers

Need to consider a protein and ionspore supplement. I used distillers, urea, and bovatec mix.

DDG/urea combo is a good mix due to the sulfur content in the DDG which the urea needs and Bovatec is always worth the money.