Growing corn for feed

[thendrix]

We have a small cow\calf operation and I'm looking for alternatives to buying feed. We have a 2 acre patch that is not connected to our main property and has no running water. I thought rather then mowing it, why not plant corn and use it for feed? There is full sunlight on about an acre and I think I'm going to try it. There is a local mill here that will grind it for me once it is harvested. Any thoughts\suggestions on practices, variety, etc.? We grow a small garden every year and I know how to plant on a small scale but I have never tried it on a scale this large and wondered if there are diffrences.

 

[inbredredneck]

Harvesting by hand or with a machine?

 

[cypressfarms]

You're going to need to fertilize it, or it won't be worth the effort. I'll never do it myself. As a kid, I still have memories of pulling ears and throwing them in the trailer; and it's not exactly cool out when corn is ready to be pulled. I would, however, plant some and let the cows do the pulling for me. Once a cow sees another eat an ear of standing corn, you won't be able to hold them back.

 

[highgrit]

Corn will not grow without water. Lost 15 acres last year, just no rain.

 

[B&M Farms]

You're going to need to fertilize it, or it won't be worth the effort. I'll never do it myself. As a kid, I still have memories of pulling ears and throwing them in the trailer; and it's not exactly cool out when corn is ready to be pulled. I would, however, plant some and let the cows do the pulling for me. Once a cow sees another eat an ear of standing corn, you won't be able to hold them back.

You got that right! The only fond memories I have of a corn field were catching grasshoppers and heading to the creek.

 

[thendrix]

Wow! Looks like the general concensus is no. I may try it for a year and see how it goes. Call me hard headed I guess but who isn't.

 

[Douglas]

Not following you. Are you going to have someone harvest the corn and then have it ground, or are you going to pick the corn and cob together and grind it all. A lot of people think grinding shelled corn is not worth the cost, and just feed it shelled. There are also a lot of people who grind the cob and corn together and it works pretty good. If you are having to pay to get the corn picked, might as well sell the corn and buy hay or by-product feed. Now, if you are trying to finish a feeder your idea may be a good one.

 

[thendrix]

The plan is I\we will do the plowing, planting, etc. then have corn and cob ground for feed. Then feed the stalk as well for filler. The whole idea came up because I bought some corn gluten from a friend of mine and have been feeding it. At the time we checked on prices for more and it was $240\ton. I just want to see if I can get quality for a little cheaper by putting in some work.
And instead of burning the fuel to mow it and getting nothing, I can burn a little more but get something I can use.

 

[Farmerjon]

Very good ongoing thread about this now. Check it out at: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=75238

 

[Douglas]

Every year i feed my sweet corn stalks from the garden to the calves while they are still green. They like it enought that i use it as an incentive to rotate to new paddock. I get where you are coming from on using somthing you can raise on your place with work instead of spending money on feed. I am also guessing by mowing you mean with a rotary mower not mowing for hay.
The problem is that most adult cows don't need anything better than good hay. So you would have a high quality feed that maybe overkill so to speak. On the thread mentioned above the discussion is about using the cows to harvest which is not what you are doing. I would suggest trying to raise something you can bale and feed on that parcel, or trying this on a smaller scale like a few extra rows in the garden first. You could use a round up ready corn (1 acre) to avoid plowing and you could eliminate any unwanted grasses or weeds for a future use by spraying it.

 

[hillbillycwo]

Do a search on the internet for Pearl millet. It is drought resistant and can be baled for use later. Yeilds pretty good tonnage. You can even graze it if you can figure a way to get the cows to water. I am planning on putting in some this spring and see how it does my cows. Just a thought.

 

[thendrix]

Looks like the two acres is out. I got more info from my grandpa about it and he says it's got some ditches on it and I couldn't see them from the road. Haven't been on that patch since I was a KID. Thanks for the info though. There are other places around here to plant extra corn and I may try some of them this summer. Again thanks

 

[terra8186]

I used to grow just 2 acres of corn and really enjoyed doing it. It takes a couple of years before you get the hang of it. The main problems are weed control and fertilizer. I have an atv sprayer and I would spray round-up every 3 weeks until it was big enough to shade the weeds. The big problem is that I couldn't put it on at the right concentration. I either stunted the growth or didn't put enough on.

I use a 3pt spreader to spread 600 lbs of fertilizer/acre (200 lbs N, and others to soil sample results).

I had it shelled by a local farmer with a combine and he put it in a grain cart. I add minerals and feed my "feeder cattle".

2 acres of corn @ 135 bushel/acre gives me 13,000 lbs of grain for $650.

I have also been planting corn by broadcasting with some success. You could use this method if you let the cattle harvest it themselves.

 

[rustybottoms88]

Thread revivaI! I have 40 head of fall calving cows and have thought of growing a few acres of corn to feed them. I live in Northern Arkansas and we have little to no row crop equipment around here. I figure a guy could buy some old used equipment cheap from up north but as best I can figure one would have more money invested then he would save. Atleast initially. But for fun I would Iike to know what all the nesscessay equipment would be. I could rent a no till drill and use roundup ready corn. After that I would need an old two row or single row self propelled combine I guess even a pull behind type would work. Would I need a grain bin to dry it? Or is corn dry enough at harvest? I would need a grain cart as well I guess. Discuss!

 

[HDRider]

My brother is doing it. He bought an old, but good corn picker, and an old grinder, up in Wisconsin I think. It picks cob and all. He grinds it and feeds it. He put in a well and pivot system. Set up a grain bin. He grazes the stubble. Works great.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/CsMmsvkGqFE[/youtube]

 

[rustybottoms88]

My brother is doing it. He bought an old, but good corn picker, and an old grinder, up in Wisconsin I think. It picks cob and all. He grinds it and feeds it. He put in a well and pivot system. Set up a grain bin. He grazes the stubble. Works great.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/CsMmsvkGqFE[/youtube]

Thats pretty neat. Thanks for sharing. How does he like that picker?

 

[True Grit Farms]

Screw growing corn for feed, when I can buy 16% pellets with 5% fat for $142 a ton. And I'll only have about 6 hours of time invested in it. My way of thinking is a ton of pellets is about equal to growing 50 - 60 bushel to acre of corn, without any risk or tractor time. Growing your own corn for stockers makes good sense, but to supplement fair hay doesn't pencil out for the cow calf operation.

 

[HDRider]

RB, He likes the picker.

TGF, He is finishing steers with it. He made 700 bushel on five acres and that is dry land corn.

 

[True Grit Farms]

RB, He likes the picker.

TGF, He is finishing steers with it. He made 700 bushel on five acres and that is dry land corn.

I've never made a 100 bu corn to the acre. And the one year that I came close the next year I made nothing. I need to find a cheap protein supplement for 8% hay, and I'm not feeding chicken crap.

 

[HDRider]

That is by volume, and remember that has the cob in it.