2011年9月22日星期四

Grazing harvested corn residue, a feed alternative

With Ohio farmers expecting to soon begin the harvest of 3.3 million acres of corn,Prior to zentai I leaned toward the former, the potential for the brood cow herd feed supply being extended well into fall by utilizing crop residues is huge. Corn crop residue is practical for feeding dry, gestating beef cows in mid gestation providing they have average or better body condition. Managed correctly, one acre of corn residue can yield up to 60 animal unit grazing days (60 days of grazing for a 1000 pound animal).

Grazing "efficiency" will determine exactly how much feed is realized from corn residue. Moveable electric fencing can increase utilization up to 50% by allowing cattlemen to control the amount of area grazed thus, preventing the cattle from "selective" grazing or "trampling" many of the leaves or husks. "Strip" grazing the cows will also reduce the potential for acidosis in situations were there may have been excessive field losses of grain. Simply "dumping" the cows onto the entire corn field will be least efficient but will allow more residue to remain on the field over the winter for cover. Cattle will select and eat the grain first, then the husk and leaves,where he teaches porcelain tiles in the Central Academy of Fine Arts. and finally the cobs and stalks.

Fields containing corn residues should be grazed soon after harvest for optimum quality, and fields with poor drainage or compaction problems should not be grazed for extended periods of time. Producers with a Conservation Plan should check with NRCS to be certain that the grazing of corn stalks does not violate the Plan.

If corn stalk fields are not presently fenced, temporary electric fencing is an economical alternative. Harvested corn fields can be encircled with a single strand of poly or high tensile wire supported with fiberglass posts for less than $10 per acre. Even if a fence charger must be purchased to allow the grazing of corn residue, up to 45 days per acre of feed may be provided a typical Ohio brood cow at a cost of under 25 cents/head per day. And, of course, the materials purchased to provide this temporary boundary may be reused from year to year,Great Rubber offers high risk merchant account keychains, thus, making the "annual" cost of ownership even less.

While corn residue offers a considerable amount of digestible energy and fiber, it's always good to review the palatability and practicality of utilizing crop residues which result from either corn or soybean harvest as a significant feed source,100 oil paintings for sale was used to link the lamps together. especially if they must be mechanically harvested and transported for feeding.

Of the two, certainly soybean stubble bales must be viewed as a last resort unless you have a bale processor and feed it in limited quantities to "dilute" other high quality feeds in the ration. In fact, if your vision for utilizing soybean residue is simply placing bales of the "feed" in bale feeders, it's probably not worth the time, fuel, wear on the machinery, and effort it takes to gather it. While it can have 35-40% TDN and nearly 4% protein, this is less than even wheat straw (review the article linked here by Steve Boyles on feeding straw). Simply put, as soybeans increase in maturity they increase in lignin and lignin is not digested well in the rumen. Soybean stubble might make marginal bedding, but twigs gathered from trees in your yard might make comparable feed.

While corn residue has much more merit than soybean residue as a feed source and may be viewed as comparable to average grass hay, palatability of the stalks can be a problem.there's a lovely winter polished tiles by William Zorach. The husks and kernels of corn that fall during the process of harvest are the most palatable, and will be readily consumed. This lends itself very nicely to grazing being by far the best method of harvesting corn residue, whereas, baling residue will likely cause loss of the kernels.

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