kjonesel":3hjekti2 said:
I was telling my son how this was a common way of storing and feeding the grain. With the cost of harvesting and the price of grain bins we will see more of this in the future. My brothers tood delivery of 600 gallons of winte blend diesel and it was over $2200 dollars, America will figure out that the best way to make money is to just not spend it.
Grazing standing corn has long been common in the Canadian Prairies as a means of getting a fair amount of grazing for the winter months.
Here is a guide to grazing corn in western Canada put out by DeKalb seed:
https://www.dekalb.ca/Western/Products/Corn/Documents/corn_grazing_guide.pdf
However I don't think grazing standing unharvested corn has been so common in the US. Grazing harvested stalks is very common, especially this year with the long period of no snow in many areas of the US cornbelt.
In the corn belt, if you are already raising corn for grain and own a combine, carts, trucks, dryer, bins, drylot, feeding equipment, manure handling equipment etc then maybe the more popular method of bringing the grain to the cattle makes sense.
Starting out with nothing on a relatively small acreage, I was raising corn for grain using some new strip till methods. Corn is my day job. I can actually grow good corn very cost effectively with new genetics and methods with minimal equipment.
But harvest is a different matter. I was hiring the combining, hauling and drying. Some years by the time I got done I almost ended up owing them money. Certainly did not pay enough to make it worthwhile.
My neighbor got me interested in cattle a few years ago ( I think he wanted me to keep my grass down better!) I bought a few heifers from him and found I really enjoy the cattle business. But feeding a herd in Wisconsin from Nov 1 to May 1 is a big expense. But here I have this corn I am practically giving away and cattle that need something to eat.... So I started this learning process. #1 thing is do not graze pregnant cows and heifers on standing corn unless you want 125lb calves and have a vet on call...
My goal in the cattle business is to raise as many pounds of top quality natural beef per open acre as possible. Rotational grazing in the usually moist climate area of SW WI has allowed me to gradually but dramatically increase my carrying capacity during the 6 month grazing season. However since I purchase all of my winter hay needs (6 months worth) profit can be lost with winter hay costs.
When I was harvesting corn my yields were usually in the 180-200 bu/a range. But it was usually pretty high moisture and needed drying due to my late planting, etc. Here I am about giving away my corn and purchasing a lot of hay. It just did not compute to an overall profit on my farming operation. While I do enjoy cattle I need them to be profitable also.
So I started grazing it. Learned a lot and now use the first pass grazing for steers only although I let my retained heifer (non-bred) calves in behind the steers to cleanup but only after most grain is gone. Saves a lot of late winter hay. Bred cows and heifers are never on corn. Hay, mineral and good well water only for pregnant cattle and my bulls. They get a gentling treat of a couple pounds of sweet feed once a week or so in the fenceline bunks in the corral (keeps them coming to me and into the corral when I call them) but cows and bulls do not get any significant amount of grain ever. BTDT as my kids would say.
Early on I found you can get 300 cow-days grazing per acre on standing corn. It all depends on how far you push them to clean their plate before they get more dessert (ears). I don't push any of them to eat the lower stalks. I have also cut back the amount of 28% N fertilizer I use compared to what is considered "normal" for grain production. This is to prevent excess nitrate buildup in the stalks. Early grazing of highly fertilized corn can lead nitrate poisoning. I am somewhere in the area of 0.4-0.5 units of N per bushel but applied in the strip a day ahead of planting corn.
I used to broadcast apply P&K dry ahead of spring strip tilling but my soil tests indicate high levels of both and sufficient micros so all I applied this year was some N as 28% liquid about 3x3 in the strip. I am experimenting with splitting the N to get more bang for the buck by side dressing every other row (60" ctrs) for half of my 30-35 gal/a. My main cost for growing corn is actually the seed itself. I now run an Aerway at an angle over the stalks and manure in the spring to break up some compaction and incorporate some of the manure.
One of the keys to profitability in this system is to reduce/eliminate the time when I have two years worth of calves to feed. By harvesting my steers off of corn in mid April and start of calving season about April 1 there is almost no time when I have two sets of calves. Getting them off in mid April gives me about 2 weeks to do my thing to these strips and get them ready to plant corn again the first or second week of May in WI.
Another thing that makes this system feasible is the field layout. I have found that it works best with a long narrow strip of corn. My strips are about 100 ft wide by 1/4 mi long with a hot wire along each long side. In the center is an access gate and a lane back to water and hay. I gradually move one of two cross wires away from the center lane in one direction until they reach the end then close that end off to steers, open it to heifers and put the steers going the other way until they reach the other end. At which time they go to the processors. I drive across the corn rows with a 4 wheeler and put the step in Gallagher p-posts and aluminum cross wire on reels in the tire tracks.
Because of the logistics it really helps to have the corn in the same strips every year. I think we now have a system that can do that and produce outstanding corn every year on my heavy clay soils and hillside strips. The soil gets better, there is almost zero erosion and carrying capacity seems to increase a bit each year. And with it the economics.
Now I am working on breeding up a herd that does well in this sort of low-input system. Certain cow families will thrive in this system and produce steers that put pounds into beef rather than frame. I need cows and bull that will produce smaller 1200 lb class mature cows and steers that can hit 1050-1100 lb in 12 months on just mama, grass, some hay and then grazing corn.
Customers ask me if my beef is "grass fed". I have not come up with a short definitive answer to that one yet. Corn is just a big member of the grass family. And as they graze they are eating much more than just the grain. I ask folks to try the beef and not worry about what the system is called.
I am obviously excited about the possibilities of this system. It is not for everyone but does meet my low input/low machinery needs. Sorry to go on so long.
Jim
