corn

[blackjack]

...went on a tour of corn fields here in central Alta yesterday... just wondering what your thoughts are on corn for silage or for winter grazing...

[kato]

We grazed Canamaize last fall. It was pretty droughted out, so there wasn't much there, but we were still impressed with it. So were the cows!

We grew a Roundup ready variety this year, and even though the snowstorm in May made it really late, (it wasn't seeded until June), it's about 7 or 8 feet tall now. If we get lucky in the frost department, there should be cobs on it.

This year we are going to graze it, but next year we will probably grow more, make some sileage, but keep 20 acres for grazing too.

It's a good way to increase your feed supply without increasing your landbase.

Best to get a neighbour to seed it for you the first year, and then try it out before you spend money on equipment. Start with grazing if you can, because it's the cheapest way to do it.

[blackjack]

kato...thanks for the reply... if you don't mind what are your production costs in Manitoba... the producer here in Alberta had 160 dollars / acre into the crop including all costs from seed ,custom seeding to custom spraying...also the chemical and fertilizer... the boys at the field figured it would yield 16 ton /acre if it had two more weeks to fill... the forecast though is not looking that promising...

[Muttley]

I grew corn for the first time this year. It was coming pretty good till frost turned it black. I still plan on swath grazing it this fall as there is plenty of cobs. Most of it is only 3 to 4 feet tall but it has been a cold as heck summer to grow corn.
One note I planted mine with a 360 Massey discer, seeded it at the same rate as 60lbs/acre of wheat. It came up to thick so I have more plants but less height. When we were seeding we had a hard time finding seeds in the ground so we kept upping the rate, next year I'll cut it back some.

[cswilson]

Boy it seems the risks to corn production are pretty great-it yields temendously but arnt't your costs per ton produced very similar to feed barley for silage. Just playing devil's advocate here because I'm not a farmer.

[blackjack]

cswilson...you are probably right about the risk but us guys out here in west central Alta are going to need to get our costs down ...this feeding cows from October to June is no longer going to work at these cattle prices... maybe this corn will give us an extended grazing season to compete with you guys out in Sask...lol...

[cswilson]

I mean isn't the cost per tonne produced pretty clost to barley grown for grazing.

[jensend]

that's been my observation. down here they are pushing the corn hard but when i look a the costs involved i think the risk is too high. corn is pretty fussy; a bad start and it has a tough time recovering to make a good crop. most guys i talk to have had pretty variable experience over the years.

[blackjack]

cswilson... I would say you probably correct in your assumption of cost / tons produced...the only reason I might grow corn is because of the extended grazing and free up a few acres to maybe grow a cash crop...

[cswilson]

Yeah guess my point would be that even a dummy like me could maybe grow barley but you better know your stuff to grow corn-I actually had the seed bought one year and chickened out and sold it-grw my specialty quackgrass instead.

[cakadu]

Did you ever imagine that in our area - west Central Alberta - we would even entertain the notion of growing corn? Look at how the climate has changed to where we have the potential heat units for corn to grow.

My understanding of the corn is that the animals just love it and will eat it all up - no waste. Hmm, I wonder how sheep would like it?

[kato]

We seeded Roundup ready corn - 20 acres

Seed $1790
Roundup & Custom Spraying $275.46 - twice.
Custom seeding by neighbour $250.00

Works out to $129.54 per acre.

No harvest cost. The cows will do that. No fertilizer cost. The cows did that too. LOL Corn loves manure. It's the fertilizer of choice around here.

We just walked through it, it was seeded really late because it was so cold and wet here, but it's still over 8 feet high and has cobs. They aren't filled in yet, but they are coming along.

You have to find a variety with a low heat unit requirement. The grain corn crop in Manitoba has been pretty much written off because of the cold summer, so having cattle to eat it is a bonus in a year like this.

[blackjack]

cswilson... that was one of the interesting parts of the tour... this ranchers field was sod bound in quack...they sprayed with roundup disked it a couple times then seeded ...sprayed a couple more times hard to believe the results unless I had seen for myself...

[cswilson]

Guess it's not for me I kinda like quackgrass-but I did get a Western Beef Development Centre flyer where corn was actually cheaper than barley on a per tonne basis so it does have it's merits.

[mgh]

For those of you who have grown corn, I'm a first timer and have a few questions...

First, my corn has cobs, but they are barely starting to fill, will probably be frozen here in the next couple days. While it is impotrant that the plants are cobbed, is this all that is important? Do most of you get complete filling, or just cob development?

Also, are your corn crops fairly clean? I sprayed mine before seeding, then direct seeded at the recommended seeding rate, then sprayed once more when the corn was about 4-5 leaf (Roundup Ready). The crop looked fairly clean after that, but now it's really a mess underneath. Lots of Lamb's quarters, hemp nettle, etc. Does anyone else have this problem, and if so, will the cows take down the weeds too??

I'm really anxious to get the cows out on it...

The last question, how many cow days/ac do you get out of your corn if grazing it. According to Monsanto's ads, one cow will graze 5% of 1 acre per week. If my math is right, that's 140 cow days/ac. At my costs of $200/ac, that works out to $1.40/d, but I've heard values as low as $.60/hd/day. I'm hoping my cows eat more like 2.5% of one acre per week!

What have you found?