Growing and feeding OP field corn

Blair · #1 01/01/10, 11:08 AM

Does any one have actual experience growing and feeding to animals? Looking in particular at Reid's Yellow Dent and Lancaster Sure Crop.

Heard that they are taller, more foliage, bigger ears and higher protein percentage.

unclejae · #2 01/02/10, 01:28 PM

Taller, bigger ears, and more folliage for sure. Don't know about the higher protein, we never had it checked. We have been growing OP corn for about 20 years now. We pick it on the ear. It gets gound and fed to the cows.

unclejae

Blair · #3 01/03/10, 12:07 AM

What kind are you growing? Do you save seed or where are you buying yours?

unclejae · #4 01/03/10, 09:31 AM

I believe it was Ried's Yellow Dent. Dad started it when I was living away from home. Yes we save our own seed year to year. Dad started saving mostly red ears and planting them the next year. The first year there were about 2 dozen red ears from 1 acre. Now it is about 50/50 red and yellow ears.

unclejae

francismilker · #5 01/04/10, 01:09 PM

Great topic! I'm planning on putting in some corn this year on a small scale (2 acres) and wondered about the feasibility of feeding it to the cows.

Unclejae,
Are you letting the corn dry-down on the stalk before you pick it? Are you grinding it cob and all?

springvalley · #6 01/04/10, 01:43 PM

I grew some last year and love it, first time I have grown op corn. I grew the grain type and was not real tall, but was regular size. Some types are silage corn and can grow 10 to 12 feet high, now that is alot of tonage per acre. Now all my neighbors had wet corn in the field and my op corn planted after theirs was drier when I combined it than theirs was. My main reason for growing the corn was if the ---- hit the fan I would have corn seed. Now granted the yield is not as great, but seems to dry down faster, more protien and you don`t have to give Monsanto 200.00 per bushel for seed corn. Mine stood real well this year also, I don`t know if I would grow it every year on the same ground. But as long as you rotate your crops, I see no problems. Thanks Marc

sammyd · #7 01/04/10, 01:48 PM

problem with OP corn is that even though it can grow to 12 feet, it won't stand the close spacing of the modern hybrids so your tonnage really isn't any better if at all.
I really used to like some of the older hybrids that had kernels that were almost red but they didn't make the cut and are no longer made.
Some interesting OP stuff in shumway I'd like to try someday.

francismilker · #8 01/04/10, 03:38 PM

By the way, what does "OP" stand for? I'm not familiar with corn planting so don't have a clue where to begin besides I've got a JD 494 4-row corn planter and I've had my soil sampled. It's tilled under for winter and I'm going to disk and harrow it again before planting time.

Le Petit Norman · #9 01/04/10, 04:05 PM

Open Polinated I believe Francismiker ... but I might be wrong

unclejae · #10 01/05/10, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francismilker

Great topic! I'm planning on putting in some corn this year on a small scale (2 acres) and wondered about the feasibility of feeding it to the cows.

Unclejae,
Are you letting the corn dry-down on the stalk before you pick it? Are you grinding it cob and all?

Yes and yes. We pick it just like the other hybrid corn. OP is open polinated. You can save ears of corn year after year and plant to get the same as what it was harvested from.

springvalley · #11 01/05/10, 10:50 PM

Francis, with your planter your going to have to get graded corn, because you use plates in your corn planter. I have a platless planter and I can use bin run if I want or graded. And with only 2 acres you won`t even need a whole bushel. Thanks Marc.

unclejae · #12 01/06/10, 09:41 AM

Springvalley is right, you need to get graded seed to use in a plated planter. What we do is take the kernals from the middle of the ear and take our chances with it getting through the plates. We are not overly concerned with plant populations. It a hobby to keep dad active since retirement.

Hey Springvalley. I am just a few miles south of you on the Iowa side. Good to see someone from this area on here.

unclejae

francismilker · #13 01/06/10, 10:12 AM

Thanks for the "heads-up" on getting graded corn seed. I've never ordered any bulk before. Do I just ask for "graded"? Do you buy your seed from places like Gurneys?

jirwin · #14 01/06/10, 11:08 AM

We plan on growing Reids OP corn to "test run it"

ramiller5675 · #15 01/06/10, 12:12 PM

You can find more information about the different varieties and buy seed at:

http://www.openpollinated.com/

francismilker · #16 01/06/10, 01:33 PM

Thanks for the link. It looks like something I might be willing to try.

Springvalley, you mention me needing "graded" corn with my 494 planter. I know so very little about corn I don't know what it is. Can you enlighten me?

unclejae · #17 01/06/10, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francismilker

Thanks for the link. It looks like something I might be willing to try.

Springvalley, you mention me needing "graded" corn with my 494 planter. I know so very little about corn I don't know what it is. Can you enlighten me?

I think I can help. We have a Deere 494 planter also. We use the large flat seed plate. That will accept most of the corn you will get, except round kernals. I think what Springvalley means by Graded seed is, kernal size. Please correct me if I am wrong.

unclejae

sammyd · #18 01/06/10, 03:45 PM

If you buy the seed from a dealer it will be graded and usually the bag will tell you what plate you need to run in your planter. Or you can tell the dealer what plates you have and he tell you which varieties will work for you.
Once you plant that and save the seed back you will have a little more difficulty getting an even stand unless you have something set up to grade the seed. Or you can just run a big flat seed plate and not worry about things I suppose.

springvalley · #19 01/07/10, 02:38 PM

Hi guys , have been off a few days, one way to grade your seed is by shelling off the ends like uncle said and use the flat middle kernels. And if you have about the same size ears they should run close to the same size. Or if you want rounds , you use the kernals off the ends. I have an old seed grader, It is a long tube with holes in it, you then put seed in one end and turn a crank, it starts out by letting the small rounds fall out first, then large rounds, then finally the flats. Anything to big will go out the other end, kinda cool. I have several other kinds to and they all work, but this one is the coolest. You know as farmers yes we have increased our yeilds, but to what expence, the big chemical companies are getting rich from us all, from seed,fertilizer,insecticides,weed spray, fungus spray and everything else. Have we really come that far. Or are we just plane killing ourselves because they say this is what we need to grow a crop. I have made the switch personally ,use manure,plow,cultivate,rotate crops, use natural fertilizers, cover crops and much more, no more bad stuff. Thanks Marc

Up North · #20 01/10/10, 07:19 AM

Before the advent of modern hybrid corn and formulated rations for livestock, OP corn was a commonly used method of finishing hogs. The old OP corn ran 12-13% protein so when combined with milk, whey, or legume pasture a satisfactory result was achieved.
Modern hybrid corn runs 8-9.5% Protein, and heat-drying can lower the protein content even further. So hybrid corn is generally blended with soybean meal products to reach an appropriate protein content for livestock rations.

If you are growing corn on a small scale to feed your own stock the above may be a consideration.