Discing corn fields

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skyhightree1

skyhightree1

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That is how I spent my afternoon and evening. I typically will bushhog the corn stalks but decided to disc them my disc was having fun chopping them up. My wife was riding with me for about a hour and asks me why don't I turn the cows out and let them eat the corn stalks down it would be free food for them I said well I don't have a fence up she said well put one up its free food going to waste by you discing it up she had a point .. maybe I will do that next year with just the fields at the house. Does anyone graze corn stalks?





 
I will put up some temporary fencing next year probably. How long would you leave them on the fields to eat? week or month or what ?
 
If you strip graze them it lasts a lot longer. But no back fencing needed. If you sow a cover crop you can get some grazing from it also.
I leave them on it until they eat all the small parts and some of the stalk. Mine has grass also but they will still spend a lot of time in the stalks. I will not turn them in till January and only have 20 acres but dry cows expecially can be wintered on stalks with little suppliment.
 
I like one per acre or one and one half acre. Corse the more acres the longer it last.
I graze all the corn fields I can. We are going to try something this year by not spreading the cobs and sucks, let them drop in a windrow behind the combine so they are in a pile and protected more so they last longer for the cattle to get.
If possible limit them so they have fresh ground all winter.
 
jedstivers":2y2zuc9z said:
I like one per acre or one and one half acre. Corse the more acres the longer it last.
I graze all the corn fields I can. We are going to try something this year by not spreading the cobs and sucks, let them drop in a windrow behind the combine so they are in a pile and protected more so they last longer for the cattle to get.
If possible limit them so they have fresh ground all winter.
Click to expand...
Jed, I have seen a couple people rake hay real late and then leave it in the windrow and the cows cleaned it up pretty good.
 
jedstivers":i8nisfkq said:
I like one per acre or one and one half acre. Corse the more acres the longer it last.
I graze all the corn fields I can. We are going to try something this year by not spreading the cobs and sucks, let them drop in a windrow behind the combine so they are in a pile and protected more so they last longer for the cattle to get.
If possible limit them so they have fresh ground all winter.
Click to expand...

Jed GOOD IDEA...
 
Yes, I used to graze the corn rubble before turning it under. You'd be surprised how many ears of corn that the corn puller missed and the girls thought someone had opened a candy store.
 
Most all corn fields around here are plowed under right after harvest. Farmers say they want to return that organic matter back into the soil. I guess a person can graze it but all you're doing is filling them up. There ain't much nutritional value there. They'll probably burn more calories trying to digest it than they get out of it.
 
If there is a pond next to the field and you craze the cows they will distribute the corn around and in the pond and you will have an abundance of ducks and doves to shoot.
 
Na just a swampy area lol i walk my fields after harvest and man my combine leaves VERY VERY lil corn kernels its crazy. However there are a ton of doves that tend to scaveng the field but not many ducks around my way.
 
We run our entire herd on stalks all winter long. Give them a little bit of protein to help the digestive process and they will pile on the pounds over the winter. Cheapest feed source out there.
 
If you have cornstalks and cattle and it won't take a major investment (in fence) to bring them together it is a good combination. Some years the combine gets 95% of the crop and some years it gets 75%, even the best operators knock at little down across the end rows. I always saw whole ears bouncing out of the header and that amounted to more than the separator loss. Corn stalks breaking down robs the next crop of N. Run those cornstalks through a cow and it seems to change that. Cornstalks aren't ideal nutrition, I'd stick to dry cows after a month. But in the first month after harvest even calves will do well. I've done this, and that's what I observed.
Keep lots of mineral available.
 

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