Grinding ear corn

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tncattle

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Found some ear corn locally that I'm thinking of buying and grinding to feed. Anyone do this and what kind of results have you had? The man with the ear corn says it's right around 122000 lbs. worth and he wants $4000 for it.
 
Ground corn can have issues with a starch loading unless it's mixed with something else. It digests too fast, cracked corn is better from that stand point and the difference between the nutririon avaliable isn;t a whole lot more. Cracked is only slightly more digestible then whole corn. Unless you cna get it ground or cracked for free it's hardly worth it. There have been several discussions concerning this over the years on here.
 
How would 6 wt. weaned calves do on this? What else would need to be mixed with it, if anything?
 
We have an old 2 ton grinder/mixer. When I was growing up we raised 40 acres of corn. We sold the roasting ears and picked the rest with a one row corn snapper.
We crushed 2 tons per week and augured it into burlap bags.
Gran dad did not feed any hay. We crushed the ear whole, added salt, some dry molasses, and cotton seed meal. Now and then added some citrus pulp or cottonseed hulls.

I am thinking of either buying some ear corn or shelled this next fall. I want to make my own again. There are a couple of farmers who still sell it on the farm.

I did not know until I was in my late teens that other folks fed hay during the winter.
 
That is cheap ear corn. It goes for $200 a ton here. I feed ground corn and oats in the winter to maintain body condition.
 
If I am doing my math right, that seems a riduculously low price.

122000 lbs @ 60 lbs/bushel = 2033 bushel
2033 bushel @ $6.50/bushel = $13,200 worth of corn.

We fatten our feeder cattle on whole shelled corn and vitamins and hay. They taste great, but it is hard to make a profit. Our only profit comes because we raise our own corn. (could probably make just as much by selling the corn)
 
Ear corn contains the cob and may also still have the shucks (husks) on it so the bushels would be somewhat less than that. But still looks to be a good buy even if you have to haul it yourself.
 
He said there were very little shucks left on it, It is whole ear corn. I'm really curious how far it would go feeding to around 70 6 wt. steers or heifers? And how well they would do on it?
 
tncattle":2ckpjt62 said:
He said there were very little shucks left on it, It is whole ear corn. I'm really curious how far it would go feeding to around 70 6 wt. steers or heifers? And how well they would do on it?
Corn is corn..thsi will just have a little roughage mixed in with it when you grind. Should work well but at 8% protein or a bit less you might want to add a bit of CSM and make sure they get plenty of roughage.
 
If it's worth buying and getting ground I guess I need to find out what exactly to feed with it or should I say mix with it? Obviously my main concern is to get decent gain on calves at the cheapest possible rate.
 
tncattle":38xirnab said:
If it's worth buying and getting ground I guess I need to find out what exactly to feed with it or should I say mix with it? Obviously my main concern is to get decent gain on calves at the cheapest possible rate.
I'm wondering first off how does the man know there is 122000# of corn there? Secondly why is he willing to sell it for $2.29 a bushel? Something sounds a bubble or two off plumb. But if you do buy the ear corn use a 5/8 or smaller screen.
 
Being the paranoid that I am I would have it tested for any of the myriad toxins that corn develops that make it unsuitable for feed.
 
dun":21uqwk4c said:
Being the paranoid that I am I would have it tested for any of the myriad toxins that corn develops that make it unsuitable for feed.

ditto and have you looked at it?
 
Well I'm definitely no corn expert. If I can get out there to look at this afternoon what should I look for specifically? Or should I just take an ear and have it tested? Where to get it tested-- at the Co-op? I guess my extension agent will know.
 
Most co-ops cannot do a test for mycotoxins other than blacklight and that is not totally reliable. If you really think it is necessary to test take it to a USDA approved Lab the test will probably cost around $45 and you will need about 2.5#s shelled corn. I think that this is too good to be true either the quality is off or the quantity.
However I am not a lucky duck so maybe you have more luck than I do and everything will be as it is represented. Good Luck!
 
Jalopy":2t87kot5 said:
Most co-ops cannot do a test for mycotoxins other than blacklight and that is not totally reliable. If you really think it is necessary to test take it to a USDA approved Lab the test will probably cost around $45 and you will need about 2.5#s shelled corn. I think that this is too good to be true either the quality is off or the quantity.
However I am not a lucky duck so maybe you have more luck than I do and everything will be as it is represented. Good Luck!
Most grain elevators or even feed companies that purchase a lot of corn have onsite testing available. Don't know what they would charge you but if they use the Vicam test which is very reliaable...it only cost them about $12 ....just get a good representative sample from several locations within the storage place and mix it well.....it really takes less than a cup full for the test. It can be fed to feedlot cattle up to about 300 ppb I believe. A lot of farmers who own high afloxin corn feed it to their livestock at much higher levels and it's legal but don't know if it's legal for them to "sell" corn with aflatoxin levels that high.
 

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