Feeding corn stalks

samn40 · Mar 8, 2013

I am still curious about feeding corn stalks to cattle...We only chop corn here for silage and it is fine precision chopped. I can not get my head around feeding tough corn stalks roughly chopped to cattle. Have any of you got any pics of how the stalks look when you open the bale and how much waste is left after the cattle have finished eating what they can of the bale?.... Thanks
Sam

Anonymous-0 · Mar 8, 2013

just a few do it around here and then only fed supplemental. on bad yrs used prior to the snowball diet.

gregger · Mar 8, 2013

we use a V rake set to just lightly rake it get most of the corn leaf and not much stalk , also do it befor the stalks get rained on Fresh but dry , i feed a lil silage in morning and they eat on stalk bales the rest of the day , if there"s snow on the ground i"ll put a stalk bale out for um to lay on and they"ll eat on it also
gregger

old harv · Mar 8, 2013

My neighbour is strip-grazing standing corn with dry beef cows. He put in all his fence posts before freeze up the middle of November, and moves them about every week. They get some hay once the ears are all gone. He says he will do it again next year so I guess it is working. It has been a reasonably cold winter with lots of -20 and -30, and one -42. These cows will not calve until June, so they are not at a critical stage of pregnancy. They are also Angus and Hereford, so they are tough.

rrlund · Mar 8, 2013

I could show you a picture if I had a picture of the manure pack. That's all that's left this time of year. I try to have them fed up by the first week or so if January. Any later and the bales freeze up so bad the cows can't tear them apart. Leave'em til spring and they're a big moldy bale of manure. What they don't eat of them makes a good high place for them to lay the rest of the winter.

armand tatro · Mar 8, 2013

Back in the '60's and before my Uncle and Cousin over-wintered Herford cows on corn stalk pasture. It was a common site to see those cows picking a stalk of corn. some with ears, some with out and they would chew them up. Sometime they would get too fat if you didn't watch them so they should they should have no trouble with rough-cut stalks. Armand

El Toro · Mar 8, 2013

When we ran low on straw we used corn fodder that was shredded. We had to change the blades on the ensilage cutter to shred it. The cows ate some of too. When they were milking they were hungry and thirsty. They drank a lot and peed a lot. Lots of manure too. My dad had gutter cleaners installed when my brother and I left for the military. Hal

Anonymous-0 · Mar 8, 2013

it's just my own personal experience, but them whitefaced red ones always need the most attention. i only buy feeders though, and mostly from the sale barns.
no problems with angus usually and i like them, but i have to say that the general public has been heavily brainwashed into thinking angus, angus, angus.
beef cattle all taste the same to me.

jdv · Mar 8, 2013

Cows will eat wooden posts if you give them some protein with it. I've fed corn stalk hay for the last two years because of the drought here. They just run a wheel rake after corn harvest and bail them up. With the protein all they need is something to keep them full. I was surprised how well they cleaned it up. The ears don't really matter anyway because cows can't utilize the corn unless you crack or grind it.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 8, 2013

your last statement is a little too strong. they do have teeth you know. lol.
running hogs behind cattle was the norm back in the day just for that reason though. hogs have no reserve for where that kernal lies.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 8, 2013

your last sentence i mean.

JayinNY · Mar 8, 2013

My friend and I cut 2 pickup loads of sweet corn stalks his uncle gave us at the end on the season, we cut them in November, they were brown and dry, but our beefs seemed to love eating them,

bill in colc · Mar 8, 2013

With hay at over 250 a ton one local here is wintering about 250 cows on baled stalks.

case 1175 puller · Mar 8, 2013

Here in western Iowa a lot of corn stalk bales use to get poured with mollases based liquid protien. Now somebody came up with a system where you grind the bales and apply a lime solution and it is supposed to break the stalk down so the digest it better. The verdict is still out.

60 acre hillside · Mar 8, 2013

STRONG?? Smells bad too!

tomstractorsandtoys1 · Mar 8, 2013

Good dry cornstalks have alot more feed value than most of the junk CRP hay that is baled in August.We feed a bale of stalks then a bale of hay.This year we made a bag of snaplage(a combine head on a chopper)then we baled the stalks and they were perfect, very dry and almost all the leaves our dairy heifers and dry cows fight over them.If you bale wet stuff that molds or get only the stalk and no leaves that will not eat it very well.We have a feeder with a bottom up off the ground and there is almost no waste,less than 10%,if the bales did not fall apart so easy there would be even less waste.

tomstractorsandtoys1 · Mar 8, 2013

Good dry cornstalks have alot more feed value than most of the junk CRP hay that is baled in August.We feed a bale of stalks then a bale of hay.This year we made a bag of snaplage(a combine head on a chopper)then we baled the stalks and they were perfect, very dry and almost all the leaves our dairy heifers and dry cows fight over them.If you bale wet stuff that molds or get only the stalk and no leaves that will not eat it very well.We have a feeder with a bottom up off the ground and there is almost no waste,less than 10%,if the bales did not fall apart so easy there would be even less waste.

retired farmer · Mar 8, 2013

I don't have a camera. We run a stalk chopper over the field after the combine, it leaves the stalks and leaves in a windrow just like hay. It is then baled in 4x4 bales. The stalks themselves are about six to eight inches long. When you cut the bale open it kind of explodes in a big fluffy mess. The cows will probably waste at least a fourth of an eight foot bale. Mostly they will just eat the leaves.

Nick m · Mar 8, 2013

We raked some with a rotary rake without chopping the the stalks then baled them. We then put them in the pen and didn't break them up. The steers chewed on them for a while then just layed on them. Worked ok as bedding and feed. They seemed to eat them better when the bales where newer. Saved us some hay and straw. We do give the steers all the corn/soy meal they want, so it may have different results in cows.

Nebraska Cowman · Mar 9, 2013

lots of cattle have been fattened on whole corn. I'm feeding whole ear corn now.

rdandersom · Mar 9, 2013

You can use cornstalks for wintering cows as PART of the ration if it is balanced properly.I have fed a hay bale,then a stalk bale in rotation on alternating days.
Makes great bedding.The manure pack is very solid but comes out in spring half composted already.A friend used to switch from straw bedding to cornstalks a few weeks before shipping because he was convinced it cleaned the cattle up.

Bill(Wis) · Mar 9, 2013

Holsteins will eat anything. A lot of early dairy barns were built with wooden mangers. The holsteins ate them so then we just fed them off the concrete floor which was shaped like a manger (sort of). (;>))

Texasmark1 · Mar 10, 2013

They feed them around here with a fresh wheat patch and syrup tub (with the rollers). Cows eat em up. Seem to like them better than Milo stalks. I agree on the nutritional value.

Mark

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