Some pictures from today - waterer & transition corn grazing

[jedstivers]

If you can get it cut and hauled for 39.20 plant all the acres you can. As far as moisture go to agonline an ask those guys how much 17 & 18% corn they harvested this year.

I am just telling you what the going rate in the area is to have corn harvested and hauled. I don't set the prices I will however be paying them. I tried to yahoo agonline this is what I get. I am unable to locate a question and answer section similiar to this one could you paste the proper link? Also I have never heard the word CUT when discussing the harvesting of shell corn, is this new lingo? Or something so old it has already passed me by?



http://agonline.com/agonline/default.asp

Anything done in the south with a combine is cut, we do sometimes say pulling corn but not as often as saying cut. Here you might get the combine for $28-30 but the hauling will be .25-.30 cents a bu.
Sorry about the web site I thought that would pull it up, it's http://www.agricultureonline.com While your there you might tell those guys how bad of managers they are to plant the wrong corn.

 

[hobbyboy]

If you can get it cut and hauled for 39.20 plant all the acres you can. As far as moisture go to agonline an ask those guys how much 17 & 18% corn they harvested this year.

I am just telling you what the going rate in the area is to have corn harvested and hauled. I don't set the prices I will however be paying them. I tried to yahoo agonline this is what I get. I am unable to locate a question and answer section similiar to this one could you paste the proper link? Also I have never heard the word CUT when discussing the harvesting of shell corn, is this new lingo? Or something so old it has already passed me by?



http://agonline.com/agonline/default.asp

Anything done in the south with a combine is cut, we do sometimes say pulling corn but not as often as saying cut. Here you might get the combine for $28-30 but the hauling will be .25-.30 cents a bu.
Sorry about the web site I thought that would pull it up, it's http://www.agricultureonline.com While your there you might tell those guys how bad of managers they are to plant the wrong corn.

That gets me nowhere as well, I will keep searching for anything agonline and hopefully come up with something.

 

[jedstivers]

[/quote]That gets me nowhere as well, I will keep searching for anything agonline and hopefully
come up with something.[/quote]

Its the Successful farming website, do a google for that. And try just http://www.agriculture.com

 

[hobbyboy]

Now we are cooking with gas. That should keep me entertained for sometime.

 

[SRBeef]

Food for thought: grazing standing corn you can get at least 350 cowdays per acre in Iowa. Probably more like 400. So 10 acres will give you about 4000 cowdays. If you graze for 100 days (late Nov to March 1) that means 10 acres will support 40 cow equivalents all winter. The corn we are debating to harvest or not should be about 10 acres or less for anyone with "hobby" intents. I look at this as a way for a smaller operator to overwinter cattle with very little time and equipment. Again good luck with whatever system you choose for your needs. Jim

 

[SMiller]

Wow, am I ever glad I stumbled upon this thread! I can't wait to try feeding cows in standing corn! It is getting SO expensive to harvest this stuff, all to turn around and feed it to the cows all over again. I think I will try it this way and see how it turns out. I am surprise more guys aren't doing this.



Any more pros\cons?

 

[Beckett]

SR Beef,
Just talked to the neighbor today. He has 13 acres of standing corn (already fenced)next to my property. It is on a flood plain and come spring he probalbly wont be able to combine it. I hinted around about price and what not but he couldnt come up with and answer. hes going to get back to me in the next couple days to give me a price. I know i will have to section it off to start with, but ive been fallowing what you have been doing and if the price is right i think im gonna give it a try.
Thanks for posting what you have done in the past. This helped me out alot.

Beckett

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Jim -you have really come a long way. When you first posted how great your calves look and that they "appeared" to be growing well - I thought "get them on a scale - HAIR will deceive you" - but, you KNEW THAT!! good for you! I would NOT put you in the "newbie" catagory any more.
And Hobbyboy - you may be NEW - but you must also have had your head in the sand this fall. The horrible corn harvest made the national news everywhere. It was a record breaking horrible harvest. Corn never dried, fields too wet to run equipment, corn still in fields - too wet - months past normal harvest dates. Yeah! management! Get into farming - it is a HUMBLING job.

 

[KMacGinley]

Most corn did not come out of the field at 16-17% this year, and anyone telling you that is telling you a lie. It came out closer to 30% this year. Some years it may come out that low, but most years it is around 20% on average.

 

[SRBeef]

I have been pleasantly surprised at the condition of my out-wintered cattle. They have been grazing corn but in the section they are in the ears have all been gone for about 10 days or so. I do try to keep some hay available to them also. Checking on them last Saturday in about 0 deg F temperatures in Wisconsin I decided not to move the wire exposing more corn for another week. They need to clean up more husks and leaves.

I do put out hay for them but the one bale I had out was half frozen. I picked the bale up with the loader spear, tore off the outer frozen layer and put it back in a standard feeder. A few of them heard my tractor and came down out of the corn where they were grazing to see what I was doing. It did give me a chance to check them over carefully.

Watching them get into it I was very impressed by their condition and winter coats. Except for a bit of corn butt, they looked pretty good. Even the BWF heifer I was going to sell but didn't. Here's a picture also of the condition of #66, one of my target 1200 lb cows.

There is something about them being out grazing that I feel makes them hardy. They seem to be staying healthy too. They bed themselves in the pine woods nearby where the pine needles evidently make comfortable bedding. They seemed totally oblivious to the cold.

The New Year's beef rolled roast was great. I felt like I wanted to say thank you to #62 for her good job on the steer. Here are a couple pictures. I don't see how any of the anti-animal folks could object to this sort of beef. I like it because it's not much work once you get things set up and figured out. fwiw. Jim

I peeled off some of the icy frozen outer layer on this bale and they liked what they saw. I was going to sell the BWF heifer but decided to keep her. Their coats and condition looked very good. All due to calve in March.

This is #66, one of my target 1200 lb cows - just never varies from that very much. I'd like about 30 just like her. If you could say that a cow was a "lady" she would be a real "lady". Great 50%+ calf every year great attitude, keeps herself looking good with minimal input from me.

edit: Jeanne, Thank you for the kind words. I still feel like a "newbie" most of the time... the scale does tell the truth however.

 

[wtrapp]

That system seems to be working really well for you. Nice pics too.

How did you post your pictures? I've been trying (and following the Easy as 1-2-3-4-5) steps and nothing works. It says the pictures have been uploaded yet there are no pictures, or it says the pictures are too large. You posted nice pictures by the way. Thanks

 

[hillsdown]

SR there are a few guys around here that graze corn just like you do and the cattle do very well. Corn is not economical to grow here (my area) unless you are grazing it. Like I said in my post, I am really really kicking around the idea of breaking up some hay land and just planting grazing corn in it. Once I get a the new well hooked in and a waterer in that area I just may do that.

Thanks for sharing your pics.

 

[Frankie]

That system seems to be working really well for you. Nice pics too.

How did you post your pictures? I've been trying (and following the Easy as 1-2-3-4-5) steps and nothing works. It says the pictures have been uploaded yet there are no pictures, or it says the pictures are too large. You posted nice pictures by the way. Thanks

Try using photobucket. They have free hosting. I've had good luck posting pictures stored at their site.

http://www.photobucket.com