Feeding corn

bja105 · #1 08/12/14, 05:39 PM

As an experiment, I planted about half an acre of open pollinated field corn. I might save some for seed, and the test will be fed to the two cattle. I plan to pick by hand, keep it in feed sacks, and feed occasionally this winter.

I have no picker, sheller, or grinder. I can be on the lookout for pto powered equipment if there is something that will be needed as my herd and acreage increase. Any suggestions on equipment? I found a cheap, beat up pto sheller locally, but the nlower wheel and housing are destroyed.

Assuming I don't buy any equipment, how should I feed this? Whole cobs, shucked, not shucked? Hand shelled? What about the stalks, should I cut them down and feed them? One plot is on the edge of the pasture, where I cold just fence the corn and turn them loose.

This will not be a staple of their diet, I doubt I planted nearly enough to make much difference.

jwal10 · #2 08/12/14, 07:00 PM

What you need is an old silage cutter, cut stalk, cob, shuck and all. It has to be dry enough to keep and a big enough space to keep it dry....James

https://www.google.com/search?q=stat...n0%3B480%3B360

idigbeets · #3 08/12/14, 07:56 PM

You'll want to harvest at or below 15%... you'll gain a point or so when it goes through a machine like a chopper or combine. Make sure to put it in a bin and keep air circulating for a day or two. You can buy small grain aerators .. basically a fan that fits onto a tube, put the corn in a large trough and dry it up.

sassafras manor · #4 08/12/14, 08:56 PM

I feed whole ear corn to my cattle. Actually my oldest son has one cow trained to eat an ear of corn out of his mouth. The kids and I drive the tractor thru the neighboring fields (of course with approval) and check the corners as well as areas where the field rows intercept the headrows for stalks that have been knocked down by the combine. I leave store them in a aluminum trash can with the lid off until they are dry then either leave the lid on or dump them into "retired" chest freezers for storage. The goats and chickens all have learned to eat the corn from the ear also.

FarmerDavid · #5 08/14/14, 08:52 PM

I wouldn't just turn them in on it unless you've picked all you want as they will trample 60% of it into the ground. As long as its not going down here is probably no harm in just pickin it as you need it so you wouldn't have to mess with storage, corn keeps well in the field. Grinding it would probably be the best but you can feed eat corn no problem also.

kycrawler · #6 08/14/14, 09:54 PM

You can buy a black hawk corn sheller on e bay for about $50

I have an old john Deere PTO drive hammer mill I bought at an auction that I use to run ear corn through I pick with an old new idea no 10 picker and run it into a pile in the barn hay loft

Some of the Amish here feed green chop corn they run whole stalks ear and all through a lawn and garden chipper

arnie · #7 08/15/14, 12:00 AM

some feed mills or stores will grind for you mixing in what ever viamins or mallasess you want .mabe your lucky enough to have one that will near you . grinding gives you the most out of your corn .if fed whole lots of it will pass through the cow undigested

Gravytrain · #8 08/15/14, 07:33 AM

I rotate my cows and pigs into my corn fields (mostly sweet corn) after I've picked all that I can use and sell. I do this after hunting season so the deer have an incentive to stick around. The cows will completely eat every bit of the corn plant except the roots, and the pigs will eat and turn the soil over. Both will fertilize.

I also broadcast other forages at the last cultivation for additional feed. This is mostly brassicas and legumes.

sammyd · #9 08/15/14, 03:55 PM

We planted 2 acres a few years back and once I started harvesting the stupid picker blew up. So we picked it by hand, whew!!...
We would go out and fill 5 gallon buckets and dump those into 30+ gallon trash barrels.
Then we would spend a couple of evenings hand shelling enough to get around 215 pounds so the mill would mix us up a batch of goat feed.. Did this several times through the winter.
Bought a small corn sheller and ran a few bushel through that but it threw the kernels all over the place and made more mess than it was worth. If I was going to buy another hand sheller I would get one of the big ones in a wooden frame rather than one that is out in the open.
Sold a few bags of cob corn.
Picked the gravity box full but had the mill grind that up into pig feed.

Left the stalks in the field and worked them in the next spring. Had enough hay that I didn't need any more forage. But in the past I have made lots of corn silage in bags, which is labor intensive but makes pretty good feed.

2 years ago I planted 4 acres and the new corn picker worked quite well thank goodness. I ended up selling it all for a decent profit. Stored it in makeshift cribs made with snow fence with some old tin siding for a floor. Buyer loaded it out with a skid steer.