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winter grazing corn

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elwapo

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I am looking at the economics of growing corn for grazing next winter. Since I have never grown corn (yes we have the irrrigation and heat units). I would like some advise on varieties, production, cost to feed, and other factors.
 
Depends on what you mean for growing it to graze in the winter. Are you going to grow it and let the cattle have it, are you going to grow sweet corn on a contract for processing then let the cattle graze what's left, or are you going to grow dry corn cut it and then let the cattle graze the stalks? Whoever you buy the seed from should be able to help you out.

Lots of sweet corn and grain corn is grown around here and then the stalks are grazed over the winter. Its pretty good feed. We ran some cows on sweet corn stalks for about three months then had to move them, but for what it was it was pretty cheap and the cows did okay. Towards the end, close to calving, we had to start giving some hay.
 
I am not too sure about doing it that way, never had any experience with it. I have read some articles about people doing it in the Iowa area, but thats all I know about it.
 
I know of a guy who grazed corn with the cobs still on.....several cows got them hung up in their throats. Dead critters

Vet said if they had been green cobs, no problem but since they were dry they stuck in the Bossies throats! Apparently cows don't have a whole lot of spit!
 
I have seen it done in our area but I don't know if it was profitable. Sounds easy enough if it doesnt kill them.Personally never had a problem with corn going in.....
 
Elwapo:

I put the terms "grazing standing corn" in the Google search engine and came up with lots of responses. I know lots of research has been done in both Canada and the US...I tried finding something from AgCanada, but was not successful.

Here looks to be a pretty good link from "The" Ohio State University:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/anr-fact/0011.html

Utah State has a publication comparing wintering fall calving cows on standing corn vs traditionally harvest forage at this link:

http://extension.usu.edu/files/factsheets/beef01.pdf#search=%22Grazing%20standing%20corn%22

and also has wintering beef cows (dry) by grazing standing corn:

http://extension.usu.edu/files/factsheets/zobellfin2.pdf#search=%22Grazing%20standing%20corn%22

North Dakota State has a guide on the valuation standing corn for grazing at this link:

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/aginfo/farmmgmt/pubs/GrazingCornCrop.pdf#search=%22Grazing%20standing%20corn%22

There are lots of others. I'd suggest you contact your extension service---they should have some research from Canada on the practice. I think some research has been done at the center at Lethbridge.

One other place to might try is the Journal Animal Science website:

http://jas.fass.org/

Hope this helps...

Cheers---

TTB :wink:
 
The interesting conclusion from the sites TTB mentioned was that grazing standing corn for winter can save the producer 58% of the feeding cost as opposed to traditional baled hay. With fuel cost so high I bet more savings can be attained.
Thanks again TTb
 
Some guys tried it here but it didn't work all that good-the summer was terrible for corn not enough heat-you'd have to strip graze it for sure but the standing corn would make a pretty good windbreak-down where you are on irrigation you should be able to get enough heat units to make it cover it's input costs for sure. The guys who've done it up here never had any troubles with cows choking. I was on the verge of trying it-had the seed bought but just couldn't bring myself to start plowing grass up so sold the seed to a neighbor lol.
 
I've grazed corn for 3 winters now, works great. Never lost a cow from choking on a cob yet. Like it better than swath grazing. We get lots of snow so the corn is easier for them to get at. It also acts as a wind break which is nice on a brisk 30 below day. Cows grazed corn from November to the middle of January last year. Saves alot of hay and alot of chores.
 
You could also call the Ag Info Center, 310-FARM, and ask for Russ Horvey or Grant Lastiwka. They've got lots of research on hand from different winter feeding trials they've done. They both said that corn was only a better option if you got the yields. But in your area, you should have all the ingredients to take care of that.

I used to have their info, but I know they'd send you copies if you call.
 
Track down your local Prairie Seeds rep; Prairie has sold a lot of corn across the prairies and has a lot of data on the economics and the proper agronomics for grazing corn. The hard and fast rule seems to be that you have to be prepared to manage by the book to get good production.......shortcuts may just leave you with an expensive bill and not a lot of feed! When it works you do have a lot of animal units of grazing per acre!
 
My thinking

Corn would work........however corn is an expensive crop to raise. Most corn was bred for grain production, leaving the stalk with very little nutritional value. Also I have seen cows do real well on corn stalks with a little protein supplement. Is it possible to grow corn and leave a few uncut rows every so often and then strip graze it. Now matter what you plant unless it is corn stalks you better strip graze or the loss will kill you.

How about a sorghum sudan, it is designed as a cow feed and a heck of a lot cheaper to raise. This will yeild the tons, so that should not be a problem.

I also know a guy that feeds whole corn in little piles on the ground when his cows are grazing grass in the winter. He says they do real well and he doesn't have to buy expensive premixed feed.
 
Hmm.. I can't imagine what sorgum sudan would look like at the end of winter..Of course, I have never let it get mature and get dry.. The one time we had it growing when a frost hit it sure looked sorry... We let some Pearl Millet go once without grazing or cutting it and it held up real good in the winter, can't imagine much nutrtion being held.
 
What I have seen with sorghum sedan, varieties can and do make a difference in standability. You do not see it left over winter but then you don;t see corn left either. I have see some sorghum planted and left for wildlife habitat.
A neighbor planted sorghum sedan a couple times and the cows would straddle the rows and eat the heads as they walked down the row.
 
My corn crop is poor at best this year so we are going to graze it.From what I have read it is best to graze strips the cows will eat the ears first than the leaves and the stalks last if you turn the into to much at once they eat all the ears first which leaves alot of poor quality forage at the end of the grazeing period.I have 40 acres to graze so I am going to graze 20 rows at a time,I will just weld electric fence post's on car rims and run down a few rows with a 4 wheeler than set up 2 rows of electric fence.1st row would be set 20 rows in 2nd row 40 rows in that way when they are finished with the first 20 Just roll it up and move it over to the 60 row mark that way if the cows happen to get thru the first section they won't have free run of the corn.

I would plant a round-up ready variety as I spray my own and dont have a restricted use pesticide liscense so it pencils out the cheapest.I was planning on grazeing my corn this year any how the price of fuel it would cost a $1000 just to chop it.Plus the manure would already be spread.I am thinking on planting it in 20 inch rows next year but time will tell.
 
elwapo, I bit the bullet and planted 40 acres this may. seed was about 70$ /acre alone, (RR tech) not to mention 70lb N/acre and 100 lbs/acre of granular (forgot the exact mix) Seeded it into some land where we spread lots of manure from out feedlot. No corn planter, used 12" spacing air seeder. Very dry here, about 4.5" rain since seeding, with no subsoil moisture from last year. Seem to be doing all right, it is standing about 4-6 feet tall,corn cobs are developing. Our swath grazing oats were evaluated for crop insurance at about 40 Bu/acre (Silage in other feilds came off at only 4-5 tons per acre, so it is very dry here) THis is a good year to do a cost comparison I blelieve due to the dryness between swath grazing oats and grazing corn as well as to silage( with all expenses to each system included). If you want I can tell you what I find out around december/January. I am also curious about the nitrates present in the corn after it frosts off this fall.
 
Oh, I've seen corn stand through the winter.. IT looks pretty sorry but the guy who owns the field next to my folks home doesn't real farm per say and for a few years he just planted corn and let it stand in the field for the deer al winter. In spring he bush hgged it and planted again.. Now I bet it is in CRP or something because I haven't seen crops in it for 3-4 years.. Far cry from the dairy it was when I was growing up in that house..

I would think straight surghum would stand better than sudex... But that might be a variety thing. The Sudex we planted was real fine steamed, dout it would have held up (I never saw a head on our sudex but I sure saw seeds in the cows manure and in the cows water tank after they came up to drink). That stuff was crazy..
 

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