Grazing standing corn - year 2

[SRBeef]

Yesterday started year 2 of my grazing standing corn experiment. Last year was an accident, this year is on purpose. This year I used the Ranger to make the path for the electric wires rather than the mower as last year.

While running down my good strip tilled standing corn I kept thinking "kids get in big trouble for running over corn and here I am doing it on purpose..." I made two passes with the Ranger for each wire.

This is very different form last year. I had some fairly green stalks and possibly the start of some nitrate poisoning last fall but fortunately caught it before any harm was done. This year I was taking no chances and waiting until the stalks were showing almost no green. The stalks are all standing ahead but kinked over and stayed down for the wire after being driven over.

This puts some stalks and ears on the ground but pretty much intact so the cows can eat it with little waste compared to using my flail mower where the wire paths were pretty much wasted. Thanks to whoever here made that suggestion.

I really like this hybrid that Kaltenburg suggested. It's a RR stack and has stood and yielded well but the stalks are not big and tough like some of the newer bt hybrids and they seem very paletable. It has not dropped an ear that I could see and the husks stay tight.

I just need to leave more of a buffer around the edge for better weed control on the edges. I was stingy with the RU on the outside passes so as not to damage the adjacent pasture but didn't leave enough space to get in with the mower.

After weaning on Saturday I left the cows and calves in adjacent pastures separated only by a fence. Opening this corn, the cows can still get back to the fence shared by the calves but both sides have quieted down and seem to be moving on. The cows with full udders probably made more noise than the calves but the lure of the corn seems to have taken their minds off of the calves.

As usual, the cows heifers and bull immediately head down the rows checking out the boundaries. The single wire seems to hold them just fine. Last year I pounded in some tee posts which was a lot of work. This year I'm just using the Gallagher pigtail stepins and aluminum wire on a Gallagher reel down each side.

This system gave over 300 cow-days/acre last year. I need the same or more this year. I've been feeding hay to let the corn dry down more this year. The plants are very dry but the grain is still near 30%. A neighbor was combining today and his corn, planted a week or two ahead of mine, was still mid-20's.

Cattle are going into this corn in better condition than last year (dry summer) so I am going to cut way back on hay for a while. I was concerned about the spring strip tilling into heavily grazed corn and heavy clay ground but it seemed to work. I cut back on N a bit this year to reduce the chance of nitrate poisoning. This corn had 32 gal of 28% (about 100 units) banded in one lower corner of the strip and was strip tilled as the only tillage the day ahead of planting in May. Then 2 passes with the glypho. and AMS.

Here are some pictures from today of clearing a path for the wires. If you try this make sure your ATV etc has the CV boot guards on or you will have an expensive repair bill as we did on our other ATV (used for field tests and photos) that did not have the guards standard as the Ranger does.

A few of the cows seemed to be watching me closely from the other side of a hotwire separating the woods pasture from the corn as if to say "hurry up" or maybe it was "why is that crazy guy running down his corn???"

Here are some pictures:

FWIW. Jim

 

[novaman]

Looks like a nice stand of corn. How well do the cows clean it up? I haven't seen many around here grazing corn. It seemed crazy to me the first time I saw it. Always figured the cows would trample and leave so much waste. Ever pencil out what it costs you to feed the cows this way as opposed to just buying more hay? Are you putting out any source of protein or just letting em go with the corn alone?

 

[bigbull338]

looks like they are gonna have enough grazing for a good while.an the corn looks nice an thick as well.

 

[SRBeef]

Looks like a nice stand of corn. How well do the cows clean it up? I haven't seen many around here grazing corn. It seemed crazy to me the first time I saw it. Always figured the cows would trample and leave so much waste. Ever pencil out what it costs you to feed the cows this way as opposed to just buying more hay? Are you putting out any source of protein or just letting em go with the corn alone?

For most folks it makes sense to harvest the corn then graze the stubble which is what I have done in the past. My main problem is being land-limited. Grazing this standing unharvested corn gives me over 300, maybe 350 cow days grazing per acre at a time of year when I really need it.

As far as costs go I guess it depends on your situation. I have to hire combining and this year especially by the time you harvest 30% moisture corn pay to combine it, haul it and dry it there just is not much cash left. I think I do as well or better financially grazing it in my system. The key is getting the corn planted and up at minimal cost and there are a lot of new ways to do that with minimal tillage, fertilizer and weed control expense. Continuous corn is also very good for the soil, believe it or not. This corn has been continuous corn for 4 or 5 years now in some areas.

I am looking at this also as a finishing system. If I time it right. In January after everyone is weaned for good I will sort the cows over to the pasture with the heifer calves and move the steer calves over to fresh corn with my bull. This does a couple things, gets all females alone on hay only so they dont get too fat ahead of late March calving and hopefully gives me some harvestable, corn-finished steers to harvest in early March when I have a good market for good beef for spring and summer.

This harvests the steers a bit young but maybe that is a worthwhile tradeoff. I've moved calving up a couple weeks this year to try to get them a bit older in the spring for processing some.

As far as trampling, that''s why I limit the area with electric wires. Cattle will eat all ears first, then husks, then the upper stalks and finally the lower stalk if forced. I don't force them to eat the lower stalks. This corn variety is pretty paletable but I don't want to risk nitrate poisoning. When they get an area about 2/3 or so cleaned up I open more. Otherwise they will trample a whole field looking for ears before they eat anything else. This system also distributes manure through the field with no handling. Here's a picture just before opening up more form last fall.

This is good ground cover, lots of manure scattered but really not much edible left there. And by spring planting time this is not bad to plant into with the right equipment. Again may be helpful to have the right corn variety in this system.

As far as supplement, I make sure there is a bale of hay available to them and a Mineralyx barrel along with lots of water available. They will eat hay if they feel they need to but spend most of their time in the corn.

The economics is also affected by the fact I have to purchase all of my hay. I can grow good corn myself. I don't think this is costing as much as it would to feed very good hay. While waitign for the corn to dry down they have been going through enormous amounts of hay. Time to cut that down.

BB, thanks for the kind words.

This is a beginner's experiment but seems to be working in a number of ways. jmho. Jim

 

[EAT BEEF]

Thanks for posting it's interesting.Why is it good to plant continuous corn?

 

[hillsdown]

My neighbors have been doing this for years they don't fence anything off or make rows and the cows clean everything up no waste.

I was seriously considering doing this last year and again this year, next year if an newly seeded hay field does not do like it should I am going to give it a try.

Great post and pics thanks for sharing.

 

[SRBeef]

Thanks for posting it's interesting.Why is it good to plant continuous corn?

My views on corn are oriented to northern corn belt areas.

Corn produces a tremendous amount of biomatter per acre. It is usually a relatively large plant with a good root system. The corn grain is a relatively small percent of the total biomass a cornplant produces each year. Most of that biomass ends up returned to the soil to help increase organic matter. In fact corn produces so much biomatter that it has been a problem up until recent years to plant another corn crop in it without massive amounts of tillage...which cause a lot of the biomass to breakdown too quickly and it is wasted.

The corn plant has a large root system which adds biomatter under the soil surface and when it decays annually leaves a lot of pores for air and water penetration of even hard soil.

CONTINUOUS corn (compared to a corn/soybean "rotation") is especially good because the microbes that like to eat corn residue buildup because they find their favorite food on the surface every year. Earthworms love their food on the surface, not turned under. corn produces a lot of earthworm food who then incorporate that matter and change it to a form more useful by plants. After 4 or 5 years of continuous corn in a given field, the biologic activity in that field increases, organic matter can increase significantly and the heavy residue becomes less of a problem for planting the next corn crop since the microbes that like corn are flourishing... Soybeans don;t leave much residue on the surface compared to corn. If the microbes etc. that like to eat and transform corn residue into useful fertiliizer come up the next year and find bean residue they tend to say, "oops, don't need me here" and don;t tend to flourish as they do in continuous corn.

Running cattle on corn residue still leaves a lot of residue on the surface along with the cattle passing most of what they eat right on thru but in a more useful form (manure). The main question with grazing corn has always been hoof compaction. In Wisconsin I find this a non-issue. any compaction caused by kneading in some of this tremendous residue by hooves in the fall is usually removed by northern freeze/thaw cycles. The key to success grazing in a continuous corn system with minimum tillage is to get the cattle off of the corn stalks before the soil thaws in the spring.

There are more technical and agronomic reason that continuous corn is good for the soil but I will leave it at that. The problem has always been the equipment issues in trying to deal with all of the biomatter/residue produced by a corn plant. Traditionally it had to be totally buried by moldboard plowing etc. in order to get the next crop in. With newer equipment and techniques this is not necessarily the case any longer. But again I am talking from a northern cornbelt perspective....

Corn does require a lot of moisture to produce a good crop. My Wisconsin hillside clay soils hold a lot of moisture most years. My soils and climate are good for corn. Corn residue, left on the surface as pictured above, keep soil form eroding and increase the soil organic matter content significantly over time.

Nature built the fertile soils in this country by piling year upon year of residue on top. Nature does not turn the soil over. The combination of corn and cattle can work wonders for soils. Corn is a great solar energy collector. Corn sequesters a lot of carbon, as long as its not plowed under....

Long answer to your short question... As you can tell I am a corn guy. Regards,

Jim

 

[EAT BEEF]

Thanks Jim, I figured it had to do with the organic matter,would the only down side you see be the extra N from a corn and bean rotation or do beans not contribute that much to the next crop?

 

[SRBeef]

Thanks Jim, I figured it had to do with the organic matter,would the only down side you see be the extra N from a corn and bean rotation or do beans not contribute that much to the next crop?

Beans as a legume do usually (but not always) capture and leave some nitrogen in the soil. Probably about 1/4 to 1/3 of what is needed by a corn crop however if you are in corn growing soils and climate the pluses of beans are not, in my experience, worth the negatives. Frankly several forms of N right now are just not that expensive. Beans may produce N but they require expensive P and K to be applied.

Grazing the stalks, my soil test indicate no need for P or K for several years now which I assume is due to the cattle deposited manure. All I apply is liquid N as 28% which is not bad to handle and not that expensive in my area. Urea would be cheaper but I don't like N surface applied - you risk massive losses into the atmosphere if weather conditions are not exactly right. It is really easy to lose N which is very soluble in water. This is why many corn growers over-apply N to make sure they have enough. You get almost zero losses if you apply N when and were the plant needs it and can apply less.

Here's a picture of my strips into grazed corn ground this past spring. This is my tillage and N application in one pass usually one day ahead of planting. As things go in the spring rush, this picture was taken about 8:30 at night but is in about the same location as the grazed stalk photo above. The liquid N is placed in the lower corner of the strip as the strip is made.

Bean ground is much more prone to soil erosion than corn ground, assuming all residues left on the surface in the fall. Corn produces so much more biomatter than beans. look at the size/mass of the typical soybean plant vs the size/mass of a typical corn plant.

On the other hand there are geographic areas where beans flourish and do better than corn. Beans should be raised in those places, in my opinion. My area is an example: I can grow 175-200 bu corn but struggle to reach 40 bu beans - approx a 4 or 5 to one yield ratio. The price ratio of beans to corn however is now only about 2.5 to one. so it makes sense to grow corn in my area. And there is always something with beans - aphids, white mold, etc.....

Like I said I'm a corn guy as you can tell!

I compare grazing corn to having to purchase an equivalent number of cow-days of good hay. Corn makes economic sense for me over the winter. I'm just going to market it as frozen beef rather than by the bushel. By the way, the cattle dont waste much grain at all! They are very efficient harvesters. They don't cost 200k+ like a combine, they don't use much diesel and they generally don't break down at harvest time!

I think selling younger, partially corn fed beef in the spring I may be able to get a premium for my corn. We'll see.
fwiw. Jim

 

[1982vett]

Thanks for posting it's interesting.Why is it good to plant continuous corn?

My views on corn are oriented to northern corn belt areas.

Corn produces a tremendous amount of biomatter per acre. It is usually a relatively large plant with a good root system. The corn grain is a relatively small percent of the total biomass a cornplant produces each year. Most of that biomass ends up returned to the soil to help increase organic matter. In fact corn produces so much biomatter that it has been a problem up until recent years to plant another corn crop in it without massive amounts of tillage...which cause a lot of the biomass to breakdown too quickly and it is wasted.

The corn plant has a large root system which adds biomatter under the soil surface and when it decays annually leaves a lot of pores for air and water penetration of even hard soil.

CONTINUOUS corn (compared to a corn/soybean "rotation") is especially good because the microbes that like to eat corn residue buildup because they find their favorite food on the surface every year. Earthworms love their food on the surface, not turned under. corn produces a lot of earthworm food who then incorporate that matter and change it to a form more useful by plants. After 4 or 5 years of continuous corn in a given field, the biologic activity in that field increases, organic matter can increase significantly and the heavy residue becomes less of a problem for planting the next corn crop since the microbes that like corn are flourishing... Soybeans don;t leave much residue on the surface compared to corn. If the microbes etc. that like to eat and transform corn residue into useful fertiliizer come up the next year and find bean residue they tend to say, "oops, don't need me here" and don;t tend to flourish as they do in continuous corn.

Running cattle on corn residue still leaves a lot of residue on the surface along with the cattle passing most of what they eat right on thru but in a more useful form (manure). The main question with grazing corn has always been hoof compaction. In Wisconsin I find this a non-issue. any compaction caused by kneading in some of this tremendous residue by hooves in the fall is usually removed by northern freeze/thaw cycles. The key to success grazing in a continuous corn system with minimum tillage is to get the cattle off of the corn stalks before the soil thaws in the spring.

There are more technical and agronomic reason that continuous corn is good for the soil but I will leave it at that. The problem has always been the equipment issues in trying to deal with all of the biomatter/residue produced by a corn plant. Traditionally it had to be totally buried by moldboard plowing etc. in order to get the next crop in. With newer equipment and techniques this is not necessarily the case any longer. But again I am talking from a northern cornbelt perspective....

Corn does require a lot of moisture to produce a good crop. My Wisconsin hillside clay soils hold a lot of moisture most years. My soils and climate are good for corn. Corn residue, left on the surface as pictured above, keep soil form eroding and increase the soil organic matter content significantly over time.

Nature built the fertile soils in this country by piling year upon year of residue on top. Nature does not turn the soil over. The combination of corn and cattle can work wonders for soils. Corn is a great solar energy collector. Corn sequesters a lot of carbon, as long as its not plowed under....

Long answer to your short question... As you can tell I am a corn guy. Regards,

Jim

Why is it the enviro-renewable energy idots not understand this. Current issue of Progressive Farmer (I think it was, can't find it now, must have tossed it out because it irritated me so dam much) Something like up front talked about soil conservation and in the back jumped for joy about added revenue from removing crop residues to be used to make bio-fuel when it is obvious that strip mining the soil (removal of crop debris) is detrimental to the soils health and ability to remain productive. Have they forgotten how half of Kansas wound up in other parts of the country in the '30s? These are supposed to be educated people, but then, our leaders are supposedly to be above average too. Dangerous people that promote such shortsighted ideas.

 

[Arkieman]

good stuff - thanks for posting!

 

[linbul]

It's a great experience watching Your experiment going so well, Jim. :clap: (I'm taking notes on it since last year, thanks)
Just one question: do you have troubles with birds when the corn ears get dry (mature)?

 

[SRBeef]

It's a great experience watching Your experiment going so well, Jim. :clap: (I'm taking notes on it since last year, thanks)
Just one question: do you have troubles with birds when the corn ears get dry (mature)?

Our biggest problem is white tail deer. They think I plant corn for them. Next week starts deer hunting season in Wisconsin and the deer are going crazy. They just go through my very hot inside divider fences breaking wires, pulling off insulators etc. It's a good thing the Gallagher chargers can take a direct short for a few days until I find the break.

But birds obviously help themselves also. This morning I was out getting the sacrifice/winter feeding area ready for winter and was surprised to see a big ring neck pheasant in my crowding tub!

Turkeys eat the seed in the outside rows at planting time also. Just one of the things that go with trying to farm alongside heavily wooded rolling ground in this un-glaciated section of WI.

You just need to plant enough for them and your cattle. Figure the outside couple rows will be 50% gone. Good reason to plant a more rectangular area rather than long thin strips of a few rows. Field corn is not as bad as sweet corn, thank goodness.

I am not familiar with Bulgaria's climate but I do know Slovakia, Hungary and the Ukraine could be some good corn ground. Harvesting by grazing it like this answers some of the infrastructure problems. Might be worth a try? Maybe try it as a finishing system? Good luck. Jim

 

[ANAZAZI]

I am curious about the aspect of nitrate poisoning. Where lies the risk of grazing the corn when it is green? Where does the the nitro go?

 

[SRBeef]

I am curious about the aspect of nitrate poisoning. Where lies the risk of grazing the corn when it is green? Where does the the nitro go?

Here is a quote from a Univ of Wisconsin publication:

The occurrence of nitrate poisoning is difficult to predict because nitrate levels can change rapidly in plants and the toxicity of nitrate varies greatly among livestock due to age, health status, and diets. However, concern should certainly be raised when plant growth has been less than half of normal or nitrogen application more than twice recommended.



Nitrate Levels in Plants



Plants normally take up nitrogen from the soil in the form of nitrate, regardless of the form of nitrogen fertilizer (including manure) applied. However little nitrate accumulates in plants, when growth is normal, because the plant stem and leaves rapidly convert nitrate to plant amino acids and protein. Under certain conditions, however, this balance can be disrupted so that the roots will take up nitrate faster than the plant can convert the nitrate to protein.

The nitrate-to-protein cycle in a plant is dependent on three factors:

- Adequate water

- Energy from sunlight

- A temperature conducive to rapid chemical reactions.

If any one of these factors is inadequate, the root continues to absorb nitrate at the same rate while storing it unchanged in the stalk and lower parts of the leaves. When this situation develops, nitrate accumulates.

Nitrates may also accumulate in plants from excessive nitrogen fertilization, for example on fields where a large amount of manure have been applied.

Some plants are more likely to accumulate nitrate that others. Crops capable of high levels of nitrate accumulation under adverse conditions include corn, small grains, sudangrass, and sorghum. Weeds capable of nitrate accumulation include pigweed, lambsquarter, sunflower, bindweed and many others. Vegetables capable of accumulating large amounts of nitrate that are most frequently grazed include sugar beets, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes and carrots.

I added the bold. In the fall when the temperatures drop and sun is not as strong, corn plants especially take up more N than the plant can convert and nitrates build up in the stalks, especially the lower stalks. This year I let the plants die a bit more thoroughly before grazing and will not let them graze it so close to the ground - don't force them to clean their plate at least early in the fall/winter grazing season. I also did not apply as much N ahead of spring planting as one would normally do for grain production.

There is another interesting publication on nitrate poisoning from NDSU:

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/livestoc/v839w.htm

As to where the nitrogen goes as the plant dies, I don't really know. I would guess that as the plant breaks down it is used by microbes in converting the biomass to compost/fertilizer. Or a portion of it is released into the air?

Jim

 

[novaman]

I added the bold. In the fall when the temperatures drop and sun is not as strong, corn plants especially take up more N than the plant can convert and nitrates build up in the stalks, especially the lower stalks. This year I let the plants die a bit more thoroughly before grazing and will not let them graze it so close to the ground - don't force them to clean their plate at least early in the fall/winter grazing season. I also did not apply as much N ahead of spring planting as one would normally do for grain production.

As to where the nitrogen goes as the plant dies, I don't really know. I would guess that as the plant breaks down it is used by microbes in converting the biomass to compost/fertilizer. Or a portion of it is released into the air?

Jim

Jim I think you are a bit off in your way of thinking. As a plant matures it takes up less N. Therefore, if your corn reaches physiological maturity before a killing frost or anything slowing or stopping plant growth there would be no problem with nitrates. This is assuming the corn grew adequately during the growing season and high levels of N fertilizer were not used. The answer to where the nitrate goes is that the uptake slows as the plant growth slows unless something disturbs that balance. Not guaranteeing anything but you are likely letting your corn go when they have no problem with nitrate at all. You could take tissue samples and test just to be sure. I always sample any crop being cut for hay or grazed before any of it gets fed. Several farmers lost whole herds of cows by just throwing the cows out on failed wheat fields w/o testing first.

 

[SRBeef]

Nova, I was just quoting from the University of Wisconsin article above. They said that corn in the fall continues taking up nitrates from the soil even though the upper plant has slowed down due to temperatures dropping or lack of sunlight. This causes a buildup of nitrates in the stalks etc. The problem may be worse this year because many of the crops did not really reach full physiological maturity due to weather conditions, especially innorthern areas.

Disclaimer: This is not really my area of expertise - I'm an engineer not an agronomist! Jim