Baling Corn????

[RedHogs]

Drought has killed us and the corn crop is not gonna make? Who has baled corn and with what type of baler, how does it rake?

[DaleK]

I've seen them baled with just about any kind of round baler, they rake hard but it can be done. My concern this early in a drought season would be nitrates, my gut feeling is they would be off the charts, probably toxic. I'd get some stalks tested before wasting any time baling to make sure whatever eats it doesn't die from nitrate poisoning.

[ksfarmer]

DaleK is right. Watch the nitrate levels. A couple of years ago, lots of corn was baled in my area. Most was done late when the stalks had matured and dryed, it was mostly swathed and baled in large round bales which was then ground and mixed with other types of hay.

[RedHogs]

Our ag officials are working with us on Nitrates, and yes we couldn't do it now, we would need some rain just to bring the levels down. My baler is not a silage baler, just a normal belt baler.

[scorpian5]

most newish round balers will work just take a brush hog and cut the stalks short. they wont have very much for food value

[DaleK]

Originally Posted by RedHogs

Our ag officials are working with us on Nitrates, and yes we couldn't do it now, we would need some rain just to bring the levels down. My baler is not a silage baler, just a normal belt baler.

Ours isn't a silage baler either, we do 1000 or so bales of silage a year with it although a silage special would be nicer. I would recommend having an extra pickup belt or two on hand, I know whenever we bale soybean straw or cornstalks we usually burn up a belt.

[farminghandyman]

DON'T bush hog it, use a swather or winrower, I think it would be hard to rake it over the left over stocks,

[RedHogs]

What's the dry down time?

[DaleK]

Originally Posted by RedHogs

What's the dry down time?

Depends how dry the stalks are from the drought. Could be anywhere from a few days to never.

Don't give up on your corn yet! A trick my momma taught me was to till it every evening just before sundown. One year we planted late and it was only half grown when our annual summer drought hit. Mom had be get out there every evening and till the ground right before sundown. She said when you till the ground it pulls moisture up from down deep. She was right, it ended up making for us and we didn't miss out on fresh homegrown corn. Of coarse this was only a small garden patch and done with a tiller. Not sure how you would do that with acres of corn and a tractor.

Once you have picked the corn immediately cut the stocks down and stack them upright in bundles and let dry. I think they call it Shocking Corn. Use for daily roughage for rabbits throughout the winter. Not sure what all else would eat it but the old timers use to do it all the time.

[Ken Scharabok]

A bit off topic, but in 2001 I was in Croatia and visited a quite large indoor cattle feedlot. Their feed was standing corn chopped in fall and then mixed with spent malt from a beer brewery, also dry. A bit of salt was added to the mxing wagon. Only feed they received.