Feeding Shell Corn to Drought Cows ?

[Stocker Steve]

Corn is cheaper per pound of TDN than grass hay here, due to the drought. Could be an option for supplementing poor quality hay. Any tips or concerns about limit feeding shell corn daily along with free choice swamp hay?

 

[Rydero]

Corn isn't terribly high in protein. Swamp hay usually isn't either. Some classes of cattle you might have a hard time getting enough. Nitrates are a risk this year too. Feed tests will tell you what's what.

 

[Bigfoot]

Every drought I ever came through, shelled corn was part of my recipe. I usually do 5-6 pounds a day, with 15 pounds of hay.

 

[BFE]

That would be pretty dang expensive this year, $5.25 corn here right now. Maybe lock some in on the harvest low, which I'm guessing will be around $4.50 here.

 

[Buck Randall]

You'll need some supplemental protein with the corn, probably distiller's grain. It's expensive, but you won't have to feed a lot of it, and it will allow you to use the bottom of the barrel for forages. Marsh hay, corn stalks, or soybean stubble will do.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have used a DDG & urea mix with swamp hay in the past. I would supplement with it every third day.

Using corn could mean daily feeding. Since grass hay is more expensive than grass hay - - I would be trading labor for lower daily cost feed. I assumed corn had enough protein for dry cows.

 

[faster horses]

There is a rule regarding feeding corn. Less than 5# or more than 10# to enable the rumen be more efficient.

 

[Stocker Steve]

That would be pretty dang expensive this year, $5.25 corn here right now. Maybe lock some in on the harvest low, which I'm guessing will be around $4.50 here.

We have a positive corn basis here, and I was quoted $6.80 at the feed mill yesterday. I asked if they meant $5.80. No they did not. Crazy.

A lot less corn stocks will be baled locally due to silage chopping.

Winter price of beet tailing has more than doubled. BTOs are contracting for it, and/or planning to bag it early in the beet lift season.

I will have to recheck DDG. It may be cheap in comparison. I think folks w/o swamp hay or straw or corn stalks are chasing digestible (beet) fiber.

Looking a little bare around here with the corn gone and swamps baled off. Hunters are complaining what (neighbor farmer) will feed "their" deer this winter. I blew it off, but they may be on to something. We have a huge deer herd.

 

[David_TN]

Corn is cheaper per pound of TDN than grass hay here, due to the drought. Could be an option for supplementing poor quality hay. Any tips or concerns about limit feeding shell corn daily along with free choice swamp hay?

It's my understanding that cattle don't digest shelled corn very well. The cracked corn I've bought has a lot of shell corn in it and I can see it in the cow piles. I also notice a lot more crows in my pasture fields when I feed the partially cracked corn and I'm not happy with that.

 

[faster horses]

It's my understanding that cattle don't digest shelled corn very well. The cracked corn I've bought has a lot of shell corn in it and I can see it in the cow piles. I also notice a lot more crows in my pasture fields when I feed the partially cracked corn and I'm not happy with that.

Ok, I'm going to repeat something I have been told by those more knowledgable than me. If you check the shelled corn that has passed through the cow, you will find a hole in it, where the cows were able to absorb the nutrients in the inner part of the corn shell. We have never fed corn, so I don't know personally, but I have heard this more than once from people I trust.

 

[Allenw]

As long as the shell corn is chewed the cow will digest it.

 

[callmefence]

For the past several years due to the rising cost of cake we have used a combination of wsc and wcs for winter supplement. I believe cows digest most of the corn. Just because you see it in the manure doesn't mean it was wasted. Also I'm sure I'm seeing a very, very small percentage of the amount of corn I feed

 

[Lee VanRoss]

If you guys will buy less shelled corn there will be more for me at a lower price. Thank you in advance,,,,,,,

 

[BFE]

We have a positive corn basis here, and I was quoted $6.80 at the feed mill yesterday. I asked if they meant $5.80. No they did not. Crazy.

A lot less corn stocks will be baled locally due to silage chopping.

Winter price of beet tailing has more than doubled. BTOs are contracting for it, and/or planning to bag it early in the beet lift season.

I will have to recheck DDG. It may be cheap in comparison. I think folks w/o swamp hay or straw or corn stalks are chasing digestible (beet) fiber.

Looking a little bare around here with the corn gone and swamps baled off. Hunters are complaining what (neighbor farmer) will feed "their" deer this winter. I blew it off, but they may be on to something. We have a huge deer herd.

Dang that's a heck of a price. We're an hour from a major river terminal in Mt. Vernon IN and we can't get that good. Mt Vernon is normally $.25 cents over local, just a few cents more than trucking.

I winter on stalks and covers, helps somewhat. Still have to feed hay though. I get about 3-4 weeks per acre per cow on stalks. They love any corn left behind. I'm a little sloppier on the ends and corners in the combine since I know it's supplementing them.

 

[bmoore87]

unchewed shell corn is not digested well if at all. screen the corn out of the manure and send into a lab for testing. tests Same as stuff in the bin.

dont know what ddg price is in your area but in ours for beef cows it is a good buy with both energy and protein and cheaper than corn This year.

 

[M.Magis]

There have been lots of studies on the digestion of whole corn. Most if not all show that the difference in digestion between whole and cracked or rolled is minimal at most. Even if it looks whole coming out, its still been digested. Here is just one.

Whole or rolled corn: Which is better for cattle?

Every year, inquiries are made by beef producers addressing the need to process corn. This is an important question to ask because most producers do not have the luxury of

www.enidnews.com

 

[u4411clb]

There is also cracked corn in the cow manure it is just harder to see. Easy to compare put some calves on cracked corn and some on whole corn and then weigh them after a while my guess is you won't see much difference.

 

[BFE]

If the whole corn passes through, then I should have round patches of volunteer corn all over my grazed stalk fields next spring, which doesn't happen. Basically zero volunteer corn in those fields, far less than the fields that aren't grazed.

 

[Stocker Steve]

dont know what ddg price is in your area but in ours for beef cows it is a good buy with both energy and protein and cheaper than corn This year.

Great point. I have used it as a protein supplement with course hay, but when I looked at it again the energy is higher than corn.

What is DDG per ton in your area?

 

[bmoore87]

I doubt most feedyards and dairies in the country are grinding there corn if there is not benefit.

Steve we are $185 at plant So a semi delivered is a little over 2 hundred. Corn is $230-240 a ton before delivery. So Ddgs work right now for me