Feeding whole corn?

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No experience with whole corn except for when the cow's are on the corn fields - never had a problem with that. We have fed cracked corn and didn't have a problem with it.
 
SSS Angus":3e0s8w09 said:
Any problems with feeding straight whole/cracked corn as an occasional supplement?

Not recomended for light weight calves, but no problem with anything else.

dun
 
dun":lz92nqah said:
SSS Angus":lz92nqah said:
Any problems with feeding straight whole/cracked corn as an occasional supplement?

Not recomended for light weight calves, but no problem with anything else.

dun

What happens if you feed it to light weight calves? Thanks!
 
It has been claimed that calves under 500 lbs, don;t know how they came up with that weight, don;t process it as well and for those cracked/crimped corn is better.

dun
 
dun":3pd9gluv said:
It has been claimed that calves under 500 lbs, don;t know how they came up with that weight, don;t process it as well and for those cracked/crimped corn is better.

dun

I don't know,I am no expert,but I have heard from more than one source that the younger smaller calves actually do better on the whole corn than the older larger cattle because they tend to chew it up better.Maybe Vicky the Vet can enlighten us. ;-) :cboy:
 
It comes out just about the same as it went in on young calves in my experience. Cracked corn or corn meal seems to be a better choice.
 
Mormans has done a tremendous amount of research on using whole corn. They could supply you with facts and figures I'm sure.

As for me... I can give you my opinions and my personal experience.

We have grown reg. angus bulls and heifers on whole corn for the past eight years. About 40 head of bulls and as many heifers.

We do not push the heifers very hard, but try to get every bit of growth out of the bulls that we can. Once the bulls are weaned we start them on corn. We use a pelleted protein that has a feed intake limiter in it (1 pound a hd a day). (Mormans has a similar pellet.) The calves weigh between 600-800 pounds when we start them. We take the bulls to about 1200-1300 on this ration. In the beginning we use grass hay and than switch to grass/alfalfa mix. The bulls do extremely well on this diet.

Currently whole corn can be purchased in my area for $1.65 a bushel. That's CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP.

WARNING:
Feeding whole corn is a great and affordable way to feed calves, you need minimal equipment and the cost of gain is phenomenal....however, you probably need to be experienced feeding cattle. Feeding whole corn in large amounts can cause bloat, founder, and death. You need to slowly increase the amount, and keep a very close eye on the cattle.

Hope this helps.
 
Some of the old timers liked to supplement with ground cob corn to provide more fiber. It sounds safer than feeding whole corn and the grain drying cost is zero, but there is more handling involved.

Are there any ground cob corn feeders still out there?
 
SSS Angus":2xg461qw said:
Any problems with feeding straight whole/cracked corn as an occasional supplement?

Occasional is an issue with starchy feed, but it depends on the amount. For protein supplements you can get by with feeding every second or third day.
 
Stocker Steve":1fm5608x said:
SSS Angus":1fm5608x said:
Any problems with feeding straight whole/cracked corn as an occasional supplement?

Occasional is an issue with starchy feed, but it depends on the amount. For protein supplements you can get by with feeding every second or third day.

I concurr with Steve. Starch, when fed in more than a minimal amount (more than .5% of body weight) tends to depress forage intake. However, this is not always bad. Maybe there is a shortage of forage. Also excess feeding of starchy feeds can cause acidosis (heartburn for both the animal and owner)and founder.

I see where you a from Denton. If you have a trailer or truck to handle bulk feed, you can get corn gluten pellets and/or soy hull pelets from Saginaw Flakes. They are in Saginaw, on the north side of Ft Worth.

These byproduct feeds are a little more forgiving in the event of overeating or other feeding glitches.

Corn gluten feed is basically corn with the starch removed. It has 20+% protein in addition to good energy from it's highly digestible fiber. Soy hulls are 10-12% protein and also provide good energy from digestable fiber. Due to the current shortage of forage, I am feeding a blend of 2/3 soy hulls-1/3 corn gluten to stocker calves at 1.5% of body weight. When forage is adequate, I feed a 50/50 blend at 1.0% of body weight.

You didn't say what class of cattle you were supplementing, so that could also be a factor. If you only need additional energy, the soy hulls work really well. If you need additional protein and energy then the CG/soy hull blend should do the job. Corn Gluten is a little high in sulphur and should be limited to no more than .5% of body wieght. That is the reason for blending with soy hulls. IMO, the CG/soy hull blend is a good general purpose supplement and is very cost effective.

'Nuff said

Regards

Brock
 
Everything in moderation. I feed it as an occassional treat/supplement, only in winter. It puts fat on the critters, dont want them fat. specially in summer when its hot.
 
I feed my cows about 2 lbs per day per head of whole corn. I also feed about 3 lbs of breeder cubes per head twice per week. They are on free choice hay, as there is no grass left in the pastures here. They stay in great condition on this feed ration.

I choose whole corn, because it is cheaper than cracked corn. Can't get rolled corn on a consistent basis. It is more expensive also.

Calves and all get the corn. I do not creep feed, and I do not feed any special rations except to show cattle.
 
Stocker Steve":3cscm8ql said:
Some of the old timers liked to supplement with ground cob corn to provide more fiber. It sounds safer than feeding whole corn and the grain drying cost is zero, but there is more handling involved.

Are there any ground cob corn feeders still out there?

I think it's kind of funny you ask if they "still out there".... my husband likes to joke that we are a few decades behind in the cattle business. We have an Owatonna Mixer mill (VERY OLD). About every 3 weeks we mix up a batch, of our own cob corn, a neighbor sells us oats by the feed sack, add salt, minerals/vitamins, molasses, and sometimes 4G.

As far as more handling involved we think it's less, because before doing this we had silage. That was a daily 1 to 2 hours just depending on how cold it was and how much busting up of the silage needed to be done. Now with our grinding, it's about 2 hours every 3rd week, and about 15 minutes a day to feed.

I have heard that to finish out it is better to use whole corn, and one thing i remember being said is that the whole corn will not "pack" inside of them like a ground feed will, which could happen when they are being fed the larger amounts per day of feed for the finish process. We have never had a problem tho with ground corn in our finish process, but we provide free choice grain and alfalfa to finish. But I suppose for those that are limiting the hay, the whole corn does make sense....
 
Stocker Steve":1mllwupf said:
Some of the old timers liked to supplement with ground cob corn to provide more fiber. It sounds safer than feeding whole corn and the grain drying cost is zero, but there is more handling involved.

Are there any ground cob corn feeders still out there?
====================
stocker,
We snap whole corn....cob,shuck and all. Grinding it and adding other mixture makes excellent feed.
Studies suggest that cracked corn gives the animal a better chance to gain nutrients before passage. You will notice feeding whole grain corn much of it is still whole when discharged. Don't think the nutrients have been taken out.

The pigs love it though. We always keep a few around to clean up.
 
Awhile back I read an article from Iowa that basically stated that cows chew whole corn enough to be able to digest it. Our cows didn't read the article and were seeding the pasture with all that corn...went to cracked corn, much higher digestion rate. Finish the steers on it and suppliment the rest in cold weather...amount depends on temperature, of course they all get a evening ration to keep the rumen in shape for it and makes it easier to take muster. Dmc
 

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