Cows

[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.

[cottonpicken]

And i assume somebody has already done it.

[grassfarmer]

Winter water is easy cotton, just start them at the end of the field it's at and let them run back to it - no need to backfence in winter. Maybe design something with a wheel line irrigation system and use that as your self moving front fence?

[perfecho]

Liked the video...even saw a bull customer...have used tumble wheels and really like them, bit of an up keep thing, but easy to move.
Going to use corn this year...likely just a few acres because of cost...and unknown moisture...but have been thinking of best fence to use. Had thought of swathing, but also doing a bunch of electric fence posts in concrete and just running along and setting down...then pick up last fence line. Anyone tried that?

[Klause]

Good point... Pioneer has a really high yielding full sized non-denting corn... also not priced too badly.


Think we would leave it standing, take a 6' mower, and cut a path every 400 feet...put electric fence on each path, and just take one out every time they clean things up... We have 8 miles of fibreglass posts and red wire plus a bunch of fencers here :P

[newguy]

Tried swath grazing oats once.Expensive way.Tried a small 5 acre patch of corn.Grew great but black birds cleaned every kernel of corn off the cobs.I think a bigger field and a electric wire to make cows clean it up good may work.