Corn planter ???’s

[furrowtickler]

90% of the time corn will at least triple production per ac even in dry conditions if managed properly.

[grassfarmer]

Leaf loss was an issue for us last year too - one crazy windy day in late October and 80% of them were on the ground. I've heard a few guys that swath and graze it that way to reduce the cob picking - take one heck of a swather to handle it if it was a big crop. Saw a video of guys chopping corn here recently that was 14' tall in places and thick - would that go through a swather?
You must need more practice at cross fencing if you can move the panels quicker lol! At least with the panels they wouldn't break through or climb over if you get deep snow I guess.

[furrowtickler]

Leaf loss was an issue for us last year too - one crazy windy day in late October and 80% of them were on the ground. I've heard a few guys that swath and graze it that way to reduce the cob picking - take one heck of a swather to handle it if it was a big crop. Saw a video of guys chopping corn here recently that was 14' tall in places and thick - would that go through a swather?
You must need more practice at cross fencing if you can move the panels quicker lol! At least with the panels they wouldn't break through or climb over if you get deep snow I guess.

That wind did a lot of damage to corn everywhere here last year as well

[woodland]

Leaf loss was an issue for us last year too - one crazy windy day in late October and 80% of them were on the ground. I've heard a few guys that swath and graze it that way to reduce the cob picking - take one heck of a swather to handle it if it was a big crop. Saw a video of guys chopping corn here recently that was 14' tall in places and thick - would that go through a swather?
You must need more practice at cross fencing if you can move the panels quicker lol! At least with the panels they wouldn't break through or climb over if you get deep snow I guess.

You need a better tractor to move panels quicker😉. Nothing beats a versatile with a set of forks for visibility and maneuverability especially compared to a fwa. Those panels are one of the better things we bought and get used more than we thought.

I don’t have any luck with solar powered fencers. I’ve had them all die or act up whether it’s a cheap one or stafix and even Gallagher. 110V seems to be fine but any pasture without power is going back to barb wire.

I never seen the swaths or swather but it was a 30 foot and the corn was over 10 feet tall. The guy said they ran 4-5 mph and only made two beaver houses and the cows destroyed that evidence. I'm planning on seeing the swathing this year and if I do I’ll be sure to grab pictures.

[furrowtickler]

Were you putting down a little phos as a starter with the seed and just floating the rest on before seeding? Never used liquid fert before that’ll be a learning curve as well. Seems about half the planters I’m seeing come with liquid kits.

I’d have to get a vacuum planter to do canola wouldn’t I as fingers would only work on large seeds?

Sorry missed this one ..
yes we used liquid phos , well .. Alpine or Kugler either one works good. The rest can be floated on , NH3 or streamed on with liquid ... it all works .
Just get your soil prepared ahead of time before seeding ... that is critical in cooler areas such as yours. Direct seeding in cold soils is not a good idea at all .
Yes a vacuum planter is needed to seed canola properly .

[AlbertaFarmer5]

.
Just get your soil prepared ahead of time before seeding ... that is critical in cooler areas such as yours. Direct seeding in cold soils is not a good idea at all .

I can second that. This year was my first foray into grazing corn. Hadn't planned it in the fall, so no fall work. Spring was late, soil cold and wet, worked up some mud and planted into it right away, still lots of trash on top, big mistake. Also did about an acre of direct seeded corn into canola stubble with lots of ground cover, even bigger mistake, it literally took months to get out of the ground.

In spite of everything I did wrong, I can not believe how well the corn grew on a year with no rain. While everything else burnt up, alfalfa hardly even grew, yet the corn made it to 9 feet in many places and stayed lush and green right through the hot weather.

[wd9]

You know what's weird though, my wife has done many silage and grazed yield plots and a properly prepared seedbed and planted solid with an air seeder generally yields more then planted with a planter.

Because its grazing corn, not grain corn or land utilization or solar, not sure, but it keeps kinda coming to that conclusion. Thought it was worth mentioning.

Anyone else find this? BTW we have a planter and an air seeder. Here we are seeding brassicas, grasses, and oats into hailed out corn we custom corn planted. Making lemonade.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1019998890064478208 https://twitter.com/i/status/1019998890064478208

[dalek]

You know what's weird though, my wife has done many silage and grazed yield plots and a properly prepared seedbed and planted solid with an air seeder generally yields more then planted with a planter.

Because its grazing corn, not grain corn or land utilization or solar, not sure, but it keeps kinda coming to that conclusion. Thought it was worth mentioning.

Anyone else find this? BTW we have a planter and an air seeder. Here we are seeding brassicas, grasses, and oats into hailed out corn we custom corn planted. Making lemonade.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1019998890064478208 https://twitter.com/i/status/1019998890064478208

A lot of corn planted specifically for silage is going into narrower rows. Neighbour planted a bunch on 15” one year, they had all kinds of volume but not enough grain to make it worth it. Would have been beautiful to graze though. Wider rows and planters are essential for grain corn production, almost anything will work for grazing.

[grassfarmer]

You know what's weird though, my wife has done many silage and grazed yield plots and a properly prepared seedbed and planted solid with an air seeder generally yields more then planted with a planter.

Because its grazing corn, not grain corn or land utilization or solar, not sure, but it keeps kinda coming to that conclusion. Thought it was worth mentioning.

Anyone else find this?

Yes, we found that too. Had a neighbour airseed with a Bourgault the first year and have used a planter for 2 years now. Despite all the talk of singulation and all emerging on one day being critical to corn the most even stand we had was done with the airseeder. $10 an acre cheaper custom cost too. If I use a planter again I'd go to 15" rows versus 30" that just invites weeds to take over. Don't understand the logic of 30" rows anyway - you want corn plants a distance apart so you make the rows 30" apart but maybe 3" apart in the row. Wouldn't moving to 15" rows and 6" apart essentially give the same space per plant but leave less bare soil where you get evaporation, more weeds and lose out on photosynthesis?

[Braveheart]

Really think long and hard before buying a planter just do what you're suggesting. I agree with other poster's re airseeder corn vs planted just for grazing. Tried both and no advantage to planter and definitely more weeds with planter.

As for corn grazing, we left it stand one year out of three with tracks through for the fence about 2 days worth. We swathed the next 2 years. Swathing corn was easy and allowed for better use of temp fences. Also utilization was better and we got the cows to really clean up swaths before the next move.

Really though, our best extended winter grazing was swath grazed Golden German millet. Very palatable. Much higher protein than corn. Swaths handled weather well. Cows will go up to their eyes through snow to graze it. Cheaper and easier than corn to grow.

Planter canola here all yielded lower than drilled. Flea beetles raised hell on it also as plant pops were lower. Planters also need lots of maintenance. As well, applying fertilizer with planters usually means extra passes with something and blacker soil, strip till units or something added that further complicates.

[Braveheart]

If decide on a planter go with JD vacuum. Parts abundant. Dependable machines. Aftermarket parts like trash whippets etc fit. Resale good. Red River disk fits them for canola.

[woodland]

The 30” rows a I think work great in the corn belt where they get more moisture, heat, and growing season than us up here. Also less pieces on the planter and combine header. The guy who swaths here just floated on his seed and fertilizer then hit it with a pro till. He just disked where he fed bales in the winter on the field and that was all for soil prep. When each seed costs roughly a 1/4 of a cent it would probably drive me nuts to see some on the surface or not deep enough.

[woodland]

You know what's weird though, my wife has done many silage and grazed yield plots and a properly prepared seedbed and planted solid with an air seeder generally yields more then planted with a planter.

Because its grazing corn, not grain corn or land utilization or solar, not sure, but it keeps kinda coming to that conclusion. Thought it was worth mentioning.

Anyone else find this? BTW we have a planter and an air seeder. Here we are seeding brassicas, grasses, and oats into hailed out corn we custom corn planted. Making lemonade.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1019998890064478208 https://twitter.com/i/status/1019998890064478208

Interesting video wd9. How did that corn and interseeding turn out after the hail? What kind of row spacing did these plots and use for the trials? The neighbors grow about 100 acres for grain and seed on 22” rows and it looks good. They just use a flex d****r on the combine and run everything through. I pestered them about baling stalks but they want to put them back into the sandy ground.

Thanks everyone for all the insight from a guy out checking cows who want to come home just like every fall when the ground turns white. Hopefully not for long though ☃️

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Woodland, Do I understand correctly that someone west of Edmonton is growing corn for grain? I assume you are somewhere near Genesee? I didn't think that was possible...

[wd9]

Interesting video wd9. How did that corn and interseeding turn out after the hail? What kind of row spacing did these plots and use for the trials? The neighbors grow about 100 acres for grain and seed on 22” rows and it looks good. They just use a flex d****r on the combine and run everything through. I pestered them about baling stalks but they want to put them back into the sandy ground.

Thanks everyone for all the insight from a guy out checking cows who want to come home just like every fall when the ground turns white. Hopefully not for long though ☃️

Well the trials have been not side by side, but over many fields where you would think the planter would have outyielded one close by solid seeded. Sure there is coincidence, but seeing it happen several times does make a pattern and beg the question. Interesting to hear others question it too. Not scientific at all, just curious.

I will grab some pix of the field and post them. By far the most important thing is tilled ground for corn. Zero till ground will always be behind. We were also thinking of going twice with planter and about 36k - 40k ending up with 15" spacing. Best of both worlds? But then expensive.

We also planted sunnies this year with the planter on 30". Pretty rare sight in NE Alberta. Harvest them probably Dec 24th!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmIgjrnU8AAb4bR.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmIgjrnU8AAb4bR.jpg

Do cows eat faba beans? Seed them between corn rows? They would stand up in the winter.