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winter grazing corn

We have planted sourgham sudan along with turnips. Yes the sudan will go down after a frost but we don't usally have to worry about really deep snow. Great feed as long as you don't have to preg test while on the turnips. :mrgreen:
 
We graze lots of corn stalks every winter, good feed and very affordable, thats the only thing that keeps our production costs down.
When we use corn that has not been harvested, we always have a few founder.
I've found that a cow thats never seen a corn field befor is not likely to founder, but one that has learned to shell that corn out is very likely to.
I always make sure the cows are well filled when they go in and dont usualy have much problem.
Once I let a young guy run some cows with mine, he pulled his first calf hiefers, took them home, after they calved the first load he returned to the field all foundered, a couple died befor I reliezed what he had done.
 
I planted a small creek bottom this year for graizing , but the deer tore out the fence, and the cows cleaned it out before it every got an ear on it, so this year it was a bust! but I think it is the cheapest way to winter feed.

the best corn I found was Baldridge Hybrids...the corn shoots 4 stalks per seed, and the ear stalk will pull from the 4 "suckers" in drought times to keep ear production.

my father in laww planted a bag of it also, so I have been monitoring his corn. looks like it is the ticket!!!
 
We go to cornstalks every year.... Some say you need to give your cows a vitemen A shot.. We have and we haven't and there was no differance. And there is a chance of some foundering...Although they can get by on stalks, we always give alittle hay too...
 
we've never just planted corn to graze but graze stalks every year with great results. last year we tried to plant some cane to graze off but it was a bust as it never really came up well.
 
Hey elwapo, if you have a Dekalb seed daeler near you ask them for an info package on corn grazing. It breaks down the costs for you really well.
 
We've been doing it for three years now. We are doing it again this year. We use Roundup ready corn, and get the neighbour to custom seed it for us. Last year our costs worked out to about 50 cents a day per cow. We had 130 cow calf pairs on it last year for about 5 weeks, then weaned the calves and put 35 more cows out there. This was on 75 acres, and it lasted about 75 days.

We use the method Denny is talking about, where we divided it into enough for about three days grazing at a time. Otherwise they run around and just eat cobs! :shock: We used the haybine and cut the paddocks out first though, because sometimes in the tall corn they get pretty excited and don't see the wire unless there's some space to put it in sight.

Cows get pretty smart about this, so if they have grazed corn before, you need to let them in with a belly full of hay so they don't get grain overload. Cows that haven't seen corn before aren't quite so bad.

There are 130 pairs in this picture. When they were done, the field was bare, right down to the ground. It only needed one pass with the cultivator in the spring.

Sorry the picture is so big. I resized it to half size in my computer, then resized it to 25% of original in Photobucket and it's still big!! :???: What am I missing here?

cowsinthecorn.jpg
 
Kato said:
We've been doing it for three years now. We are doing it again this year. We use Roundup ready corn, and get the neighbour to custom seed it for us. Last year our costs worked out to about 50 cents a day per cow. We had 130 cow calf pairs on it last year for about 5 weeks, then weaned the calves and put 35 more cows out there. This was on 75 acres, and it lasted about 75 days.

We use the method Denny is talking about, where we divided it into enough for about three days grazing at a time. Otherwise they run around and just eat cobs! :shock: We used the haybine and cut the paddocks out first though, because sometimes in the tall corn they get pretty excited and don't see the wire unless there's some space to put it in sight.

Cows get pretty smart about this, so if they have grazed corn before, you need to let them in with a belly full of hay so they don't get grain overload. Cows that haven't seen corn before aren't quite so bad.

There are 130 pairs in this picture. When they were done, the field was bare, right down to the ground. It only needed one pass with the cultivator in the spring.

Sorry the picture is so big. I resized it to half size in my computer, then resized it to 25% of original in Photobucket and it's still big!! :???: What am I missing here?

cowsinthecorn.jpg
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I have a question? How far apart are your rows?I was thinking on taking an 8 row 38" planter and readjusting everything down to 20" rows more plants per acre and being I would'nt need to chop it my equipment should work fine.
 
At the feedlot were I work winters, we turned yearlings into a corn field that was too wet to silage last year, and it would have been helpful to read all these comments first! We fenced the corn and turned them into the whole field, but one promptly overloaded and died, so we pulled the fence down (the same fence we just finished putting in) so they had the stubble field as well, and then things were better. They do harvest the cobs rather rapidly, and boy, is it a pain in the butt to try to check cattle in tall corn! I really wouldn't recommend riding anything broncky or spooky in all those rustling stalks!
 
DJL said:
At the feedlot were I work winters, we turned yearlings into a corn field that was too wet to silage last year, and it would have been helpful to read all these comments first! We fenced the corn and turned them into the whole field, but one promptly overloaded and died, so we pulled the fence down (the same fence we just finished putting in) so they had the stubble field as well, and then things were better. They do harvest the cobs rather rapidly, and boy, is it a pain in the butt to try to check cattle in tall corn! I really wouldn't recommend riding anything broncky or spooky in all those rustling stalks!
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Try rideing thru some llama's with a snorty horse that's never seen one now that was fun.not
 
When I bought a few sheep to train dogs with years ago, the horses lost it every time they saw them for the first while, so I think I'll pass on the llamas!
 
Try hogs...Nothing seems to get a horse going like the sight of a hog- or even the smell...

Best rodeo I saw was when the greased pig contest hog got lose and ran thru a herd of barrel racers awaiting their turn....Pigs squealing, horses bucking and stampeding, ladies (?) cussing a blue streak...

Always wondered if that hog was turned loose on purpose :wink: :lol: :lol:
 
150 b/a X 2.50 p/b + corn stalk grazing - harvesting = cost of grazing

Will it pencil out............can you get somewhere around 400 bucks an acre of forage by grazing.

Am I missing something here or not.
 
I suppose it would depend on how much forage would cost you otherwise? I don't know.. The only grazing of corn I have heard of is for summer grazing in grass finishing operations (Grazing before ears form)..

I look at it arould here too with 200 bushel corn ground but the last time I saw 2.50 corn was a long, long time ago... More like aroud 2.25 but still 450- the harvest cost, you + whatever value the stalks per acre give you.. I don't know, I would think that crazing just the stalks and gleaning would be more economical. Not saying it can pencil but maybe I am not looking at it the right way?
 
If there is 150bu corn out there and a cow eats 20 lbs of corn a day plus stalks there is enough feed for 420 days. If it cost 1-1.25 a day to feed a cow hay that is $420-$525. Will it work yes. Will it work for everyone, no.
 
You might be right about it working for some. I would view it as a stop gap measure to tide a guy through a hurdle.

I do not feed expensive hay to cows unless it is a storm. Cows are made to clean up crop residue and the like. I still think that in most instances you should combine the corn, graze the stalks, put a fraction of the corn back into the cows, and have a baled forage source for storms.
 
passin thru said:
You might be right about it working for some. I would view it as a stop gap measure to tide a guy through a hurdle.

I do not feed expensive hay to cows unless it is a storm. Cows are made to clean up crop residue and the like. I still think that in most instances you should combine the corn, graze the stalks, put a fraction of the corn back into the cows, and have a baled forage source for storms.
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I that is almost the same thing that i do. The best case I can see is that you combine the corn haul it to an ethanol plant and haul distillers grain back for the cows. And feed it to the cows on the stalks.
 
I that is almost the same thing that i do. The best case I can see is that you combine the corn haul it to an ethanol plant and haul distillers grain back for the cows. And feed it to the cows on the stalks.
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I think we are on the right track, however I do not feed anywhere near 20 pound of corn a day to a cow. All it amounts to is if someone finds a way to put a few more dollars in their pocket at the end of the year. Thats what we do on a constant basis. The thing I like about harvesting the grain is if we have a heavy snow cover all winter, that corn in the bin is easier to tap into than corn under the snow...........but hey if I can find a cheaper way, I am game.
 

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