Grazing corn

[kato]

Hubby has a theory that mouldy cobs can happen if you push down the fencelines for the paddocks too far ahead of time and it lays in the wet and snow. Hubby just flattens the corn a couple if compartments at a time. Seems to work.

Wejust finally got them back out three days ago. Earlier on they had a 6 acre plot, and then along came the rain, so we switched to hay. Far too much waste when it's muddy. This puts us quite a bit behind a normal year. Usually mid October is when they get started. Our biggest problem getting farther into winter is that if the snow gets too deep, the electric fences don't work so well. The cows are too far off the ground for a proper shock. That shouldn't be a problem this year because a hail storm cut our yield.

For anyone in Manitoba, there's a field day coming up at the research farm north of Brandon.

[grassfarmer]

kato, probably easiest to get a bigger fencer if you can, having that extra power there even in summer makes sure your cows respect fences all the time. Ours is often sitting about 8000-9000kv and fence challenging is not a problem!

[perfecho]

Grazing some barley that got too nasty to combine....have a good fencer, battery dead for 2 days and only one calf had gone thru....they do learn quickly when a good fencer being used. Do think the ample moisture in the ground helps with the ground....big difference.

[grassfarmer]

So for the more experienced corn grazers - are you seeing any reduction in cow longevity due to the amount of grain they are ingesting? That's one part that concerns me and I know of one guy who has quit grazing corn for that reason.

[kato]

We haven't. We have had cows get into the teens having spent some time every year on corn. Ours are on the corn during the last trimester when their requirements are pretty high, so that may make a difference.