Cornfields a Good Source for Low-Cost Cattle Feed

Despite what appears to be a more bountiful harvest compared to last year, cattle farmers are continuing to experience the pinch of elevated feed costs. Hay prices have remained at record levels, corn co-product feeds have been slow to lower in price, and land values and pasture rents are still elevated.

Hay prices have stayed at record levels because of depleted inventories due to last year’s drought, winter-kill issues in early 2013, and a slow start to the haying season due to a wet spring.

Competition for acreage from corn and soybeans has also contributed to expensive forage costs. It is evident that forage prices will remain elevated into 2014, and cattlemen need to be looking to alternative forages. Nearby cornfields can offer the most economical alternative to high-priced forage.

“The best way to use a harvested cornfield is to allow cattle to graze it,” says University of Illinois beef extension educator Travis Meteer. “Cattle graze selectively, looking for the more palatable feedstuffs. In the case of cornstalkgrazing, the more palatable   parts of the plant are also more nutritious. Cattle first eat the remaining corn grain, then husks, then leaves, and finally the stalk.”

The cost of grazing cornstalks is low first because the cows graze and harvest their own feed, and second, because all costs to produce the plant for grain production are attributed to the row-crop operation. Even with the cost of a temporary fence (which many farmers already have) and water, grazing cornstalks is more economical than feeding high-priced hay.

“Cattle will eat the more digestible and higher-protein portions first,” Meteer said. “Therefore, a good mineral is probably the only supplementation needed for the first month unless the herd includes fall-calving cows or stocker calves. For them, a supplement will be necessary to meet nutrient demands of lactation and growth, respectively.”

Grazing stalks can also benefit subsequent crops. Cows grazing cornstalks for 60 days will remove approximately 30 to 40 percent of the residue, Meteer said. Residue buildup has been a well-documented problem in many corn-on-corn fields with new hybrids. Cows deposit nutrients in the form of manure back on the field. As they graze, they reduce volunteer corn, considered a weed and a yield robber in soybean fields.

Source: University of Illinois Extension

Animal Husbandry and Livestock Books
Market Watch
Farm Supply
Artwork: Cattle Grazing by Johannes-Hubertus-Leonardus De Haas