Opened up grazing corn in the snow (pics)

[SRBeef]

I recently opened up the grazing corn to the steers to be processed in April. It was snowing heavily by the time I drove down some corn and got the divider wires up so they did not seem too interested at first and stayed around the hay bale I just put out. I had to leave but will get some pics of them in the corn soon.

Calves pictured were just over 700 lb on 11/15 over the scale and probably about 750 lb now. My scale is under about 2 ft of snow so won't be weighing them again for awhile.

I would like them to get to 1100 lb by 4/20 processing which mean I will need 2.9 lb/day ADG between now and April 20 off of corn. I'm not sure I'll get there but should be close.

The rebar cross wire supports went in OK with a 4 lb hammer despite the fact it's been below freezing and near zero (F). The ground doesn't freeze to deep under all the snow - at least not yet here in December.

I peeled back the husk on one ear (on the ground) to check the corn. Looks like plenty of grain there. I am pleased at how well this hybrid has stood in the winds for this time of year. Here are some pictures of the corn stand, cross wire and a couple of the steers that will be grazing the corn when they figure it out.

Merry Christmas.... Jim

edit: I just noticed the local elevator is paying 5.50 cash for corn today. Those steers sure better clean it all up!

 

[KNERSIE]

That looks cold! The steers look good and fat for just after weaning!

 

[SRBeef]

That looks cold! The steers look good and fat for just after weaning!

It has been cold. Despite global warming we have had the most December days below freezing on record. Along with more December snow than normal. I actually like below-freezing cold rather than mud.

Thank you for the kind words about my steers. And by the way the heifers have slimmed down a bit (not too much) from their fall excess conditions.

Merry Christmas

Jim

 

[bannedagain]

What was the planting pop on that corn? it looks thin, or are those 22" rows?

 

[rockridgecattle]

sweeeeeet. no pun intended
Nice looking calves!

 

[SRBeef]

The corn population is right around 30,000/acre on 30" rows. This gives an in row plant to plant spacing of 7.0". I think I am close to that as you see in the side view. It looks a bit thinner because it is thin in the outer rows after the wild turkeys and pheasant get their cut of seed right after planting. Overall this is a good 180 bu/a or higher stand.

The other reason it looks "thin" is that we have had 45 mph + winds recently and a lot of the leaves especially in the outer rows have blown away leaving just the stalks and ears.

I don't know if a non-corn grower would appreciate it so much but what is amazing is that almost 100% of the stalk and ears are still standing and held above the maybe 20" of snow on the ground after the weather we've had. This is an extremely good corn variety, palatable yet strong and yields well. This strip is about 100 ft wide since I've found it works better for grazing to have long narrow strips between my semi-permanent single 14ga steel wire on T post fences. Then I don't have to drive over as much corn putting in the cross wires as I would in a more traditional rectangular cornfield. The cross wires are all only about 100 ft long.

This corn has been strip tilled corn on corn in the same spot for the past 6 years. A process that let's me grow corn like this with minimal equipment, hp, tillage, fertilizer and at the same time build up this clay hillside soil.

I will have hay out for the steers all during their corn grazing so the main thing for me is that the ears are still there and held up high. The steers will actually be consuming whole ear corn rather than just shelled grain. My goal is to produce a corn finished beef but with the steers doing the harvesting work (and manure handling) rather than me doing the work. Still fine-tuning the process but lots of good reports on last years product.

fwiw. Jim

 

[SRBeef]

sweeeeeet. no pun intended
Nice looking calves!

Thanks for the kind words, RR. Merry Christmas!

Jim

 

[randiliana]

Looks good, there's a little bit of corn that goes in around here for grazing. Most are pretty happy with it, especially since our area is really dry for corn. Your calves look really good too.

 

[RefugeRanch]

SRbeef,

Nice pictures first off. My question is will your cattle eat everything...stalk and all? Love the idea. No need for harvesting equipment.

Thanks for your help.

 

[SRBeef]

SRbeef,

Nice pictures first off. My question is will your cattle eat everything...stalk and all? Love the idea. No need for harvesting equipment.

Thanks for your help.

An important thing to keep in mind when thinking about grazing standing unharvested corn is that cattle have as series of preferences in a corn field: #1 is ears, #2 is husks and leaves, #3 is the upper stalk/tassel head, and #4 and distant last is the lower stalk.

In a moderate to high yielding mature cornfield, cattle will wander and trample whatever area you leave open to them to find every last ear (#1) before they eat any significant amount of (#2) husks and leaves. They will then eat all the husks and leaves in the available area before they eat any significant amount of upper stalk (#3) and only as a last resort and if forced to (no other feed available) will they choose to eat the lower stalk (#4).

If you leave a large area open to them they will also trample and dump manure on much of the corn fodder looking for ears.

So back to your question - "will the cattle eat everything, stalk and all" the answer that I have seen is "only if you force them to" will they eat the lower stalk.

As anyone who feeds baled stalks will tell you, while it is good filler, stalk alone are not a complete diet/ration. That is why they are usually chopped and mixed or soaked in something. If I have free choice hay available, at some point after finishing #2 above they will just eat the hay. I hope you see what I am trying to say here.

In my case I am looking to finish the steers as quickly as possible (I only have until April 20th +/- a couple days) before I have to strip and replant this cornfield for next year and steers go to the processor freeing up grazing for the cows with new March calves....

So I want my steers and heifers for April processing to eat as much ear corn as possible and NOT force them to eat the less nutritious, less palatable stalks. I also don't want them eating so much corn grain that they get acidosis in the rumen. My plan is to open up the corn in small sections one weeks worth at a time roughly enough ground for them to get most all the ears in maybe 3 days then force them to eat husks and leaves for maybe 3-4 days along with hay always available. Earcorn is a bit less dangerous for acidosis than straight shelled corn but not much. We still need to be careful not to let them over do the earcorn.

The next week i will drive across 100 ft of corn and put a new backwire in exposing maybe another couple-3 days of ears. I am going to watch their condition and adjust the amount of exposed corn as I go along this winter. So I do not want nor will I force the steers to get to #3 or #4 stalks as their primary diet.

The way I have things laid out, after the steers get through #1 & #2, it will then be possible to open up the stalks to the cows and heifers as maybe a cleanup crew on #3 and #4 stalks as a bit of diversity in their diet of straight hay but I sure don't want the cows and heifers getting any significant grain. I'll see how that works out. It is amazing what you can do with cows that respect a hot electric single wire.

If I use the spring calving cows and heifers as a cornstalk cleanup crew that would hopefully reduce hay consumption and extend my hay supply. But I sure do not want to pay for that with calving problems from too much grain.

The question I get is why do I let cows graze corn that could be sold for over $5 per bushel? Part of the answer is that corn may sell for $5 but getting it harvested, hauled and (usually) dried is not cheap. And the next question is if I sell this corn what am I going to use to finish them? Am I then going to go buy someone else's corn in some form to feed them? I don't want to get into another grassfed vs cornfed debate here. Let me just say I like to eat corn fed beef. So do my freezer customers. My goal is to produce feedlot quality beef without the feedlot. I am not criticizing those who feed in a lot. I am just experimenting with a different way.

Sorry for the long winded answer to your short question but sometimes it takes more than a short answer.

FWIW. Jim

 

[bigbull338]

your corn looks real good.an your steers should gain the weight fast,they look nice an slick.

 

[piedmontese]

sound like u really got your shite figured out well.good lookin animals.

 

[SRBeef]

sound like u really got your shite figured out well.good lookin animals.

Thank you very much for the kind words.

I do have a confession to make - I really didn't feel at all like I had my S___ figured out about a week ago when I was entirely too casual about leaving a gate open while I moved a bale feeder from one pasture to another.

And this gate was open to the town road, not just another pasture. I was messing around with this bale feeder when I saw my bull look up from eating hay at the other feeder, I saw him eyeing the open gate, and in an instant he took off down the town road towards where the cows and heifers are - followed closely by his two pasture mate steers.

Talk about a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.... I definitely did NOT have it together at that point!

However thanks to the help of a very good neighbor (who was in the middle of a Christmas get-together at his house) we later got all three of these boys back where they belong.

I am beginning to think that we may never really have it all together when dealing with cattle. They have a way of keeping us humble.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Jim

 

[ANAZAZI]

That is a nice summertime photo of father christmas youve got there! :banana: :banana: :banana:
Merry christmas!

 

[SRBeef]

That is a nice summertime photo of father christmas youve got there! :banana: :banana: :banana:
Merry christmas!

I am no where near old enough nor fat enough to be father Christmas though - besides he has more hair on top. Although maybe that's why he wears that red cap all the time?! I guess that's what 8 kids do to your hair line...

Merry Christmas to you folks in Sweden and around the world!

 

[SRBeef]

Here is a picture of a steer after one week grazing the standing corn shown at the top of this thread. This one had an actual weight of 748 lb at weaning on 11/15 last time I weighed them.

He is 277 days old and probably a bit over 800 lb, maybe 825, in this picture from late this afternoon, 12-27-10.

They evidently discovered the corn just fine after I left last week in a snow storm. Looks like another 6" of snow. I am probably going to run the March calving cows and heifers on the stalks after the steers get the ears/grain.

You can see the difference in the standing corn after one week's grazing on the left compared to the ungrazed on the right side of the wire. There appears to be quite a bit of ear corn left on the current paddock so I am going to leave them on this one another week before exposing more corn. I do NOT want to force them to eat the stalks. fwiw.

Jim

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Happy New Year!!!

 

[SRBeef]

Happy New Year!!!

[*]

Thanks Jeanne, same to you and everyone else here on CT.

Jim

 

[alisonb]

I am beginning to think that we may never really have it all together when dealing with cattle. They have a way of keeping us humble.



Jim

:nod: :nod: So true.
Looking good as usual Jim, thanks for taking the time to share with us.

Happy New Year to you and your family .

 

[ANAZAZI]

That is a nice summertime photo of father christmas youve got there! :banana: :banana: :banana:
Merry christmas!

I am no where near old enough nor fat enough to be father Christmas though - besides he has more hair on top. Although maybe that's why he wears that red cap all the time?! I guess that's what 8 kids do to your hair line...

Merry Christmas to you folks in Sweden and around the world!

We have three children and work on the fourth; wich one from #1 to #8 is most likely to take the last hair? :banana: