Cows

[Klause]

I think I'm nuts.

#freerangebeef #alreadyhavethemarket

#canamaize #swathgraze

#yupnuts

[grassfarmer]

#canamaize - not enough yield.

#other corns, not so nuts.

[farmaholic]

Haven't cattle prices come off their highs a wee bit? My only concern would be buying in at their peak.

Maybe the dynamics have changed. Not many Producers left so hopefully these prices are the new norm.

[newguy]

Always opportunity making money in cattle if you can put together 3 things at any given time.Lots of winter feed and summer grazing and money to buy.When deals come up it is because too many people are short of one or two of the three things.

[15444]

Maybe the kid will add a $200 fart tax on those evil ranchers and their world-destroying cows. #cowfartskill

[Braveheart]

Don't do Canamaize. Poor yields and stock strength. There's lots of corn varieties better suited to grazing.

When we have grazed corn we swathed it. It was easier for us to put up our cross fencing and made it easier to get the cows clean up the whole swath before moving.

[grassfarmer]

Was thinking of swathing it too braveheart but everyone is telling me to leave it standing - so it won't get iced over or hard packed with snow, provides shelter, saves the cost of swathing. I was thinking of using tumblewheels over the top of the swaths and never have to pound a post.

Look at this video for the genius way to put posts in standing corn. Gets interesting at 2:50

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM_WCoXEt6c&index=3&list=PLOUwfF01x2YVXr2c Bui0KgskBRwZsKwMr"]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM_WCoXEt6c&index=3&list=PLOUwfF01x2YVXr2c Bui0KgskBRwZsKwMr[/URL]

[Braveheart]

Grassfarmer, what happened to our first corn grazing that we left stand was the cows couldn't see our portable fence for corn stalks. Also, they would take a step on a stalk and push down the stalk onto the wire stretching it to the ground.

Without swathing and lots of snow, the outside 12 feet was blown very deep with snow preventing grazing.

This sounds crazy to most people, but I like to see all the cows easy to check feet, health, etc. Grazing corn is a different art than bale grazing or swath grazing millet. It is possible to get a grain overload pretty easy.

We just found better utilization by swathing. We used a 30' MacDon and cut with about 25'. Worked well.

[Braveheart]

The tumble wheels are cool. Setting posts on cold windy day will keep your blood pure though.

[hobbyfrmr]

I never owned cows. iwent to a corn grazing clinic once and it all made sense. Most important was to use small paddocks and move the hotwire after they ate the corn to the ground.
If you turn them into a big field they will just eat the cobs and leave the rest. Keep them tight until its time to move the wire and they will figure it out.
This was probably 15 years ago.

[greybeard]

I think I would like the swathed better.
How about a diskbine?

[TOM4CWB]

canamaze corn fast but is low yielding...can easily be half of better new corn varieties... If it sounds too good to be true... both cows and corn/ be in it for the long haul.

[Braveheart]

A discbine would shell out the corn. It's best to keep the ears intact.

[grassfarmer]

A neighbour here swaths and round silage bales his corn and they were having trouble last fall with the swather knocking cobs off onto the ground. Then they were frightened to let the cows into the field to clean up as there were only cobs left.
I have no hesitation putting the work in to achieve maximum utilisation. I see advantages to swathing in that it is easy to allocate quantity daily versus knocking rows down with a loader bucket and fencing 3 day blocks etc. My cows are used to digging through snow for their feed and they know to break ice off swaths with their feet if it gets hard. I'm guessing with corn and a 20 plus foot swather you'd have a big enough row that it wouldn't get buried too deep.

[cottonpicken]

Somebody should build a self moving square fence controlled by gps and solar powered wheel motors to rotational graze,ad some cameras,control it with your eye pad,i could never figure out the water part though,old idea i threw in the trash bin.