Stocker Steve":3nduyczr said:
I have purchased conventional seed corn in the past for grazing. Now I am thinking about going really low on inputs due to the current price of seed. The plan is:
spray out with Roundup once the soil warms up
spread manure and work it up
drill in bin run corn
apply preemergent
Any tips on seeding with a grain drill and bin run corn???
I have some reservations about the "bin run" seed and planting it with a grain drill.
First of all seed: corn is generally planted with a corn planter at about 25-30,000 plants per acre. A bag of seed corn has 80,000 seeds in it or just about 3 acres. So at $180./bag your seed cost to use new seed is about $60/acre. Hybrid corn is that - a hybrid. It does not replicate itself when planted. If you have a non hybrid corn it may be acceptable but there is not much of that around.
Corn if not singulated and spaced properly will not set ears. If the seed depth is not controlled fairly well it doesn't emerge uniformly nor pollinate very well. A grain drill basically dumps handfuls of seed at a time and they are not good at controlling corn seed deptha nd closure. There is a reason folks own planters AND drills.
There is a reason that even with newer style grain drills/air seeders (which singulate much better than the cup style you are probably planning on using) have not caught on for commercial corn production.
If you are going to all the trouble to set aside land to raise corn , applying manure, disking and spraying it (grass in the row early has a severe effect on corn yields) why not do it right.
The way you are describing your low cost system you may just end up with bunches of 3-4 ft high corn silage mixed with thick weeds and almost no grain.
I would suggest your modifying your plan to include purchased seed and hire a neighbor with a corn planter to plant it. Otherwise you may just be wasting your time and efforts.
For the value of the grazing corn can provide it is reasonable to spend 60./acre on seed and maybe another 10-12/acre to hire someone with a planter to plant it for you, singulated, spaced and at consistent seed depth (1.5-2"). jmho.
Jim