Corn with soybeans as a companion crop

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member
Ok, this is way out there. Been toying around with the idea of going organic, and weed control becomes top of mind. So, I have been day dreaming on this rainy afternoon. If I plant silage corn, then go back into the same field, same rows , same day with some soybeans. Scuffle the ground between the rows for weed control. Would the soybeans grow fast enough between the corn , to out pace weeds ? Then at harvest, just run it all through the harvester for silage.
Anyone hear of this or done it? Could it work ?
 
I thought corn had to stay clean to yield good. I heard where they lay down green carpet and the corn senses the green light and it does grow to full potential even though there is not any weeds competing for nutrients and water. If it is all chopped for feed the tonnage with the beans might be just as good anyway. Lambsquarter grows so good on this poor sand ground I have and it is good feed I thought there has to be a way to feed it. When other crops are burning up it gets ahead.
 
I came up with this idea from looking at corn weeds growing in a soybean field, that had been corn the previous year. The corn seems to grow real well up through the beans, and it is just from corn missed by the combine/or knocked down.
 
Dad did that in the early sixties fed the mixed silage to his dairy cows.
I do not know how well they did on the ration but it made the cows so loose the manure hit the wall and not the gutter.
Had to be careful walking behind the cows while milking.
 
You could plant the "Three Sisters" like the Iroquois Indians did way back when. They planted corn, pole beans and squash together. The beans fixed nitrogen for the corn and squash. The corn gave the beans something to climb, and the squash leaves smothered out the weeds. Don't know how you would get the chopper to pick up the squash though.
 
How about planting green pole beans with the corn? I do that all the time easy to pick the beans and you can then cultivate both.I have a Cole planter with two seed compartments that will
plant both at the same time.The green beans might actually produce more eatable silage than soybeans.Will produce more beans for sure plus being up on the corn stalk they'll be easy to chop.Black eye peas are another high protein crop can can be planted in the row with the corn or between the row like you suggested they grow really fast so they'd choke out weeds as good or batter than soybeans.
 
The guy who farms part of my property in silage does corn and sunflowers. Always looks like a good yield most years except this year. Too dry in Southwest Colorado.
 
I do that custom organic farming for the neighbor. It's quite a learning curve. I'm glad I don't own the horse in this race. Being a livestock farmer like you it might work better as you can always chop the weedy crop for feed if it gets out of hand, and it will. The whole thought process for organic is, how to control the weeds.
 
(quoted from post at 19:58:41 07/16/18) Ok, this is way out there. Been toying around with the idea of going organic, and weed control becomes top of mind. So, I have been day dreaming on this rainy afternoon. If I plant silage corn, then go back into the same field, same rows , same day with some soybeans. Scuffle the ground between the rows for weed control. Would the soybeans grow fast enough between the corn , to out pace weeds ? Then at harvest, just run it all through the harvester for silage.
Anyone hear of this or done it? Could it work ?

No, the soybeans are indigestible in the raw form. They have to be processed, removing the oil, or roasted before they are beneficial to cattle. Planting rye between the corn rows would keep the weeds down and make better feed for your cows.
 
Soybeans only need to be roasted when feeding the
dry combine beans. What I am talking about is
chopping the whole plant while still green , right
along with the silage corn. The whole soy plant is
digestible, without any farther processing
 
bruce there is a guy on you-tube called Geiger farms (jack Geiger) who has been organic farming since the 80's. he do's what your talking about doing and has about 20 or more video's out there on this subject. check them out and contact him, I have talked to him (emails) very nice fellow and very knowladgble on organic farming. john.
 
Only problem i see would be disturbing the corn seed if you where going to plant down the same row with beans and plow it out. Theres been a lot of research an trials on soybean silage here in Australia the last couple of yrs in dairy tations. We dont do it mainly because we chaseing the tonage of the corn. We also have a bean called lab lab. Can grow it by itself and gets waist high or we plant it with sudan and it will climb up the plant and make a jungle
 
Bruce I do not think the soybeans will canopy fast enough to help much with weed control.

My neighbor across the road is an organic dairy. His main battles are weeds and growing enough protein for his cattle. You can grow the hay forages pretty simply. The corn is much more of a challenge. Wet years kill him on this. If it is dryer he can usually hold the weeds back with cultivation to get a good enough canopy to hold the majority of the weeds out. In a wet year the weeds will just go back to growing if it rains soon after cultivation. He tries to grow organic soybeans so he can have them roasted for his cow ration. Gets more weeds than soybeans.

His calves are gutty looking as they never get much ground feed. All hay. So too much fiber and not enough energy.

I do know a fellow that raises organic sweet corn. Plus other organic produce. I am talking about maybe 15 acres of sweet corn. He plants fall rye. He plants a variety that does not get very tall. In the spring he notills sweet corn directly into the rye. When the corn is 2 inches tall he takes a flail mower and shreds the rye. He has the shredder tires matching his tractor tires. He sets the height just barely above the growing corn. He makes sure the flails are sharp so he gets a good cut and shred. The rye makes a mat that retards any weeds growth like you would have mulched it. He also claims that how rye will hinder other plants from growing does not effect the corn. He usually does not have weeds. I can not say anything about his yields.

Organic dairy will come the closest to working fully organic. You have an escape plan by being able to chop a crop early to control weeds. The hard part is the protein. You can grow loads of fiber (hay and corn silage) but it is hard to get the protein and fiber balanced.
 
Bruce, there is a dairy farmer near me who used to plant milo and soybeans in alternating rows and harvest it with the row crop head on his chopper. He said he made more milk while feeding it. He finally stopped because he said it was hard on silo unloaders. I wonder how it would feed out of a bunker or bag?
 
(quoted from post at 23:55:44 07/16/18) Soybeans only need to be roasted when feeding the
dry combine beans. What I am talking about is
chopping the whole plant while still green , right
along with the silage corn. The whole soy plant is
digestible, without any farther processing

Will the beans have full pods at time of harvest? Be prepared to be squirted on while walking behind the cows, if there are full pods on the plants.
 
The first year my Dad farmed (1966-67) he planted corn,forage soybeans and forage sorghum. He had a plate planter and used a BO plate to plant the mix. He cultivated it twice and said it was very good silage. I also know of another farmer who did the same but added some sunflowers as well. The chopper did not like them very well but the farmer claimed they milked good as hr had the added sunflower oil. I think the organic idea is ok but do not feel that I am a good enough of a manager to make it work with my hills and contours. Tom
 
Had a good crop of beans on an acreage one time when we decided to build a house on it. I had a guy come in and cut them when they were about waist high thinking he could bale them up. By the time they dried down there wasn't 't anything left to bale up they shrunk so bad.
 
All that is new is old, double cropping and chopping corn and beans was common up until the 60's in my area, the practice basically phased out due to higher producing silage corn varieties and no till. Most people drilled both seeds together on 15" rows planting around 13 more corn seed than bean seed on fall plowed and spring cultivated ground, early planting gave good cover before Johnson grass and quack grass could get very bad. My Grandad used to say fertilize it all good enough and the weeds made good feed too.
 
My father said back in the early 1930's during the very dry years the standard Winter cattle feed they put up was Cowpeas and running briars said those briars were a real challenge to handle with a
pitchfork.
 
If you ever get down to Virginia there are several very successful organic dairies around Dayton their crops look very good driving by them in the Summer,they also have their own processing set up.
 
I know that I am late to this discussion but will ask a question. Why is it when I read about organic dairying or talk to anybody involved that corn is not grown for silage in this area? Yet, I see here corn raised organically for silage is permitted. Seems to me that where I am given that it can get very cold during the winter I would want a high energy feed which corn silage provides as well as some protein.
 
In the early 60's my dad planted soybeans with his corn for silage. He had a very difficult time getting enough Hp to PTO and to go slow enough. It grew into a jungle. He only did that 2 years.

After corn is harvested, some farmers in Indiana will plant wheat. Then next year after they harvest the wheat, they double crop with beans.
 

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