10 Acres of downed corn.

The title pretty well sums it up. I have got up all I can with the combine, and I have crawled around on my hands and knees picking it by hand all I can stand, and im afraid that since its been rained on for 2 days, and now laying in 2" of snow it will be rotted before I could get it by hand. So that brings me to my question. Dad was saying that if we had a way to keep them in 4 or 5 pigs would have it clean as a whistle. I looked on TSC's website, and I can buy enough posts, and panel's to make a 64'x32' pen for around $350. We were thinking we could move the pen every 2 or 3 days and turn my $1,500 to $2,500 worth of corn thats going to rot/give me grief as volunteer corn in my beans next year into a little bit less of a loss in the form of some fat pigs. The biggest problem I can forsee is keeping the pigs in the same county while we break down/move panels(would a bag of feed keep them occupied?), and hauling water to them. So let me have it! Should I suck it up, and take my loss like a man, go for it, or drive myself to the nearest mental hospital for even considering such a idea?,
 
If you buy enough fence to make two more ends and another side you can build the new pen with one side shared with the old one, then take a panel out of the dividing fence and they will go to the new area to check it out and you can then close it up and take down the other three sides of the old pen. Some people keep pigs in with just an electric wire but I have never tried it myself. As far as pigs waiting nicely while you move their pen I have never seen any that would, but they may be out there somewhere. This time of year you will need a way to keep the water from freezing and some kind of shelter on skids that you can drag around. We only do pigs in the warmer months, so I have no winter experience.
Zach
 

I've seen pigs kept in with a 1 strand electric fence. If you are in the cold country I could see problems with ice storms shorting out the fence.

KEH
 
Well there is one thing I can think of that I have done before, Its ugly as all get out but it works. I don't know what kind of grain head you have or combine but you could put the grain head on and take 2 or 3 rows at a time driving the oppsite way the corn is down and running it through that way. Leave the chopper off for sure. Then when you get done then turn the hog in and let them get the rest. I did this one year with a Gleaner A11 with a 10ft head and it worked good corn still made 148 bu an acre and had fat hog to sell. Bandit
 
Feeder cattle and stock cows used to glean many fields. If any neighbors have livestock, maybe you could rent the ground to them by head-day?
 
i feed pigs on rotational grazing.you need a good fencer and i use tape.the way i break pigs is to have a good solid pen and hot wire is across corner one day of that and you get pigs that respect a wire.i shut the wire off and unroll a little tape post go in with a little tap of a hammer same coming out.where are you at maype i can help look up pig tractor might find it or chicken tractor good luck
 
Build two pens with a gate between them. Drive the hogs into one pen, close the gat and move the other pen. It helps if you have 2 other gates. Then just make sure the pen that gets moved connects to the other gate and that its free gate is on the side you'll eventually move the first pen to.

I'd like to draw you a picture, to help explain it. But I'm lucky just to be able to type.
 
I got my doubts unless you live in a fairly mild state. Hogs don't do so well being outside 100% of the time, and what happens if you get a 2' snowstorm?, got someplace to bring them in to...and feed?
Also if you use panels and are late to move them just a bit, with all the surrounding food, they WILL be out!
 
Didja ever try to get hogs back in the pen after they got out? Seems they want to keep going around the gate instead of through it.
 
Put an electric fence around the whole 10 acres and put the hogs in. Sure would cost a whole lot less than $350.00. You're done..........don't have to worry about all you described.
 
When it freezes up good and hard chop those stalks with a bush hog and disc them in. Put that ten acres back in corn next year. Moving hogs around in the wintertime isn't worth your loss.
 
I agree with randillanMo. Fence the whole thing with one strand elec. barb wire and turn em loose. Do it before the snow fly s so they get a chance to touch it here and there and know where it is. Then when it is under 4 ft. of snow I guarantee you they will not go near it. They will need some sort of shelter to get out of harsh weather and so you can lock them in to catch them next spring. Sneak up and shut the door before daylight. Otherwise I don't know how you would capture them in a ten acre field.
 
Spend your money on a GOOD electric fencer. Fence the whole area - one strand. We used to pasture hogs like that, but your climate may differ from ours. I'm in Southern Illinois.
 
Simple answer is to bale it when the snow melts, and then take it to the pigs, they will eat the corn out and use the rest for bedding.
 
In 1969 a neighbors 20 acre corn field went 100% flat with lots of the stalks broken off....He had a bad back and couldnt do anything with it..We picked it all up by hand for half and made some good money.
 
Two good suggestions were made. Either combine it with the grain head like Bandit said, or chop it and bale like 36F20 said. Then sell the bales it to a cattle man. You aren't going to make much money off it grazing it with hogs. They'll live on it but they won't gain weight. You'll end up with old lean hogs with long ears and skinny butts. Jim
 
Cattle make a bit better use of the stalks and corn.

Easy to keep the cattle with one electric wire. If you plow one furrow by the fence it really keeps them off the fence, kind of a dirt moat, visible and physical barrier for them.

Hogs work too, but the fencing is a bit tougher.

Paul
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We milked about 65 dairy cows. Brother was on a horse, I was on a motorcycle. We would herd cows to different fields that didn't have fences. Cows would walk along the road. Sounds crazy, but cows seemed to know what to do.
 
I would think cows would be the better choice. My dad brought some cows in from the sandhills of NE that did not know what corn was. It did not take long for them to find out. A cow would be walking along, stop, stick her nose in the snow, and pull out an ear of corn and start chewing. In the late 40's and 50's, my dad raised Funks corn. It would make abut 100 bpa and about 20 bushels would fall on the groung. The cows would fertilize as they were picking up the corn on the ground.

If you are worried about volunteer corn next year, plant liberty link corn.
 
when I was a kid ,,we piked all 15 acres of corn by hand ,it really does not take much over a week of after school and a couple weekends ,, with a family of 6 at workable age,,.we were slower than a 6 row head ,, but mom made sure we were thorough .. lol ,speakin of 6row heads ,, this fall I had 3 acres flat in a small hi ground field ,, I used 3 rows of the 6 row head one way ,, then turned around and used the other 3 rows .usually had a wad bunched up at the end of row each time ,, but most times it would clear out while doing the opposite 3 rows in opposite direction , .. .hogs will clean up very well , however the modern concrete hogs are to dum to live on dirtand thrive ,,,grain head idea worx well,, if it were me , I would rake and bale the stalks for feed.,..
 

Can't help you this year, but next year I'd take that Pioneer seed and feed it to the pigs before I even ran it through the planter.
 

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