Corn on broke pasture?

[countryguy]

I broke a 50 acre pasture this fall with the intention of growing some grazing corn next year,but some of the people I talk to seem to frown on this idea.

Has anyone done this before and what if any problems have you encountered?Any varieties or diffent production systems that stand out that you would recommend?Seed treatments?

Thanks for any help.

[shamus]

where are you located ?

[cowman]

Not a great authority on corn but I would suspect broke pasture land might tend to be pretty dry? If you sprayed it out with Roundup before breaking it might be a lot better? That pretty well is the case with cereal crops and canola on sod also?
The locals here all grow Roundup ready corn and it is virtually weed free! Some of the corn crops that were grown pre-RR corn were nothing but a weed patch!
I think once a corn crop gets going it can take some drought fairly well? It seems to have pretty deep roots.
The Daines family grows quite a bit of grazing corn north of Innisfail, Alberta and their cows were out practically all of last winter grazing and were fat and sassy!

[cowman]

Like Jack ?????????

[mb_rancher]

I ve grown corn on broke sod b4 and so long as you make sure you use a RR variety you will be ok with the grass and weed problem. The only thing I would suggest is that you put on at least 90 lbs of nitrogen. This is what I have found. If you do that you will be good to go.

[cowman]

Emerald:Yea, Jack and his eight brothers! They have a pretty big farm and are quite a little corporation that includes a purebred operation, several western stores, a casino, auction mart, rodeo grounds, real estate business,apartments, oil interests and who knows what else!
The generation before them had about 6 or seven boys too! They are an old time pioneer family that goes away back. Good people who have done a lot to build this area up.

[nicolaas]

I agree with mb_rancher. Since it is pasture land, there probably won't be a lot left in the soil. Take a soil test. Remember, there is no other crop with the appetite for N2 than corn. It may be better to grow oats for swathgrazing - probably a lot more economical.

[dalek]

We break up hay or pasture ground of some kind every year to plant corn, it works well but you have to get on top of both fertility and weed control early. The oldest we've ever broken up was ground we bought that last grew a crop of hemp in the early 60s then was allowed to grow up in wild grasses until we bought it in 95. We offset disked 10' willow trees and 6' of grass and some leftover hemp and got a good corn crop that year. Nothing will let you clean up old pastures like corn as long as you stay on the weed control early. RR would be worthwhile but I would burn it off before planting as well.

[PureCountry]

Some of the practices you guys mentioned make me cringe.

But anyway you slice it, don't do anything w/o a good soil test. Just got mine back for some pasture land and one crop sample. The crop sample was by far the most depleted and will take the most TLC to turn around.

[cowman]

I find it interesting that the hemp was still there? Must be hardy stuff to still be surviving after about forty years!
I've often wondered if the government could get over their paranoia about hemp, just how profitable it might be? Seems like the darned stuff has a lot of growth and they say the oil from seeds is very good stuff? It also seems to be pretty leafy?
I wonder how it might stack up as a forage crop if taken at a fairly young age? Or can cows even eat it?

[farmers_son]

Thought you might find this interesting:

http://www.globalhemp.com/News/2004/May/hemp_is_the_not-so-secret.php

Seven years ago, David Wise created his own special recipe for cow feed.

It consists of 400 pounds of soybean meal, 200 pounds of distiller’s grain and the key ingredient — 100 pounds of hemp.

Yes, hemp.

The high protein mixture, which contains 34 percent protein and essential fatty acids, has made his cattle healthier, happier and heftier, according to Wise.

So far, he’s had no complaints from his four-legged consumers.

“It’s really working,” Wise said.

The only complaint Wise has is that he can’t grow his own hemp to feed the animals.

For now, he has to get his hemp supply from Canada.

“I can grow my own soybeans, I can grow my own corn,” Wise said. “If I had the hemp, I would have it all in one sock.”

Recently, his friend, Craig Lee, who introduced him to the hemp feed, traveled to Canada to pick up 1,200 pounds of hemp that Wise had ordered. Wise paid $1.10 per pound for the hemp, which he wishes he could grow.

Since the 1950s, hemp has been illegal to grow in the United States. But, years ago, it was a very popular crop in Kentucky. In 1915, hemp was the state’s largest crop. Many factories used hemp to make twine, rope and cotton bagging. When World War II ended, the U.S. government canceled virtually all hemp farming permits.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, both hemp and marijuana have the psychoactive THC ingredient. Hemp remains strongly identified with marijuana but, according to Lee, who is also the director of the Hemp Fed Beef Company in Willisburg and the secretary/treasurer for Madison Hemp & Flax Company 1806, Inc. in Lexington, hemp is nothing like marijuana.

“What you have here is a lot of people with their heads stuck in the sand,” Lee said.

Hemp’s connection to marijuana has ruined opportunities for farmers, such as Wise, to grow the crops on their farms, he said.

Its uses are endless and its success with Wise’s cattle is one example of that, according to Lee.

“Because of the high oil content and the fatty acids, the animals actually utilize more of their feed, he said. “They digest more of it, which means the farmer is getting more out of his feed.”

Hemp-fed cows taste better too, he said.

“It has a better flavor, a better taste,” Lee said.

According to Lee, Wise is probably the only farmer in the United States that feeds his cows hemp.

One reason for that is the hassle of having to buy it from Canada. But it goes deeper.

“They have been scared all of their life thinking that this is marijuana and it’s not,” Lee said. “There is a difference.”

Smoking marijuana will make the user intoxicated and smoking hemp will not, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service’s Administration’s National Clearinghouse for alcohol and drug information.

Hemp contains less than one percent of the active ingredient THC, the substance that gives marijuana smokers a high. Marijuana plants contain 10 to 20 percent THC.

Marijuana plants and hemp plants have different appearances and are harvested differently. Marijuana plants tend to be short and bushy while hemp plants can have stalks that are 25 feet high.

Currently, hemp is grown in Canada, China, Russia, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, England, Poland and many other eastern European countries.

[dalek]

Not to go too far off topic, but there was enough hemp grown here back in the 50s and 60s that it grows wild now, although there is some (of both kinds) still being cultivated as well. My neighbours barnyard usually consists of about 3 acres of wall-to-wall wild hemp. About every 2nd year the OPP fly over, stop, and demand that he destroy it. They still haven't found a way that works. (Back in the late 80s his nephew dried about 100 lbs, took it to school, and sold it. Took the money and partied all weekend, bought a new motorcycle, etc. then all his customers came back on Monday morning and took their money back any way they could)