Feeding baled wheat

[15444]

Neighbor has 100 acres of standing wheat that is being covered by crop insurance - too wet to harvest. Leasee is BTO that is going to see if he has enough pull with Agricorp to let neighbor swath and bale it, even though adjuster says it cannot be salvaged.

Any concerns feeding it to cows on a limited basis if it is allowed to go ahead?

It will shell out badly even with swather, so it won't be full heads.

[Sheepwheat]

Too wet to harvest? In. My. Dreams. How does payment work on that? Sorry to hijack thread.

[15444]

Too wet to harvest? In. My. Dreams. How does payment work on that? Sorry to hijack thread.

22.5" of rain from Aug 27-Oct 20 makes it too wet to harvest. Some guys tried and won. They also have 2' ruts from one end of their fields to the other end, in every single row. All for a bunch of wet feed grain.

[grassfarmer]

It won't give you trouble if you cross fence it either swathed or standing. Not like corn where they can pick the cobs off, they'll be taking in enough straw to mitigate any grain overload.

[15444]

It won't give you trouble if you cross fence it either swathed or standing. Not like corn where they can pick the cobs off, they'll be taking in enough straw to mitigate any grain overload.

Cattle in it would be a waste. Every step a cow takes here right now they sink 6" into the virgin ground. I have plenty of fields and pastures that show that outcome. They would be up to their knees in crop ground. We have narrow window to harvest it, and need a good 4"-6" of frost with no lake effect snow.

[grassfarmer]

My bad, I thought you were meaning to graze it.

[dfarms11]

How do you expect to bale it if a cow can't walk out in the field?

[15444]

How do you expect to bale it if a cow can't walk out in the field?

Crossing fingers it will freeze just deep enough before it snows. Usually get a one week window where that happens. With ground fully saturated, it is tightening up fast. Could walk on bare ground today without breaking through, so that is a change from yesterday.

[GDR]

Depends on varieties but wheat can be very scratchy and get lodged in the mouth and throat and cause abscesses.

[woodland]

Depends on varieties but wheat can be very scratchy and get lodged in the mouth and throat and cause abscesses.

Lump jaw is a real problem in mature wheat unless it is awnless which very few varieties are. Ran into it with a bunch of baled up sprouted barley swathes but it was just after bse and cows weren’t worth much so losing a couple wasn’t the end of the world.