Hasn't been much activity on here lately and I was wondering how many guys are still picking and feeding corn. In my area growing up in the eighties seemed everyone fed their cattle out this way. Now it's almost a forgotten thing. We are still doing it but why do you guys think most have given up on it? How many do you guys know that are still picking, has it just happened in my area or everywhere?
This forum has slowed down like most forums as facebook groups seem to have taken over.
I do pick and feed ground ear corn to sheep and cattle. Currently using a mix with a bit of oats and a "steak grower" for feeding the cattle.
A lot of people have quit it for several reasons, modern corn shells easily, increased labor in ear picking and grinding, ear picking is slower, etc.
I still think it is a wonderful feed and you get a quality meat from it. Grass fed is also a big demand and that takes away from the grain feeding as well.
Dad always fed a load of cattle from feeders to fat cattle, 400-500# to 1100-1200#, 35 to 40 head. Most of our BIG crib of corn and half of our big barn full of alfalfa hay went into them every year. Lots and lots of work. But we took one to town to butcher every year, we got half and the land-lady got the other half, She was a widower and I suspect her two kid's family's got most of that half. Then we started selling steers on the hoof to be butchered, worked up to 8-10 per year sold that way. The corn fed beef just had a better taste that most other beef I've eaten. Friends of ours fed about a dozen steers every year for 10 years or so, picked corn and ground it for the cattle, and made a small patch of alfalfa hay couple times a year. We had steaks at their house one night, same great tasting beef I grew up eating.
Bet we ground 8000 to 10,000 bushel of ear corn every year. We also raised farrow to finish 500 to 800 head of hogs every year with purchased shell corn. All spring and summer I made 2-3 trips a week to town 5 miles away for 5500# of ground hog feed. My wages and gas for the tractor was WAY less than the feed mill's delivery charge, but their truck could haul more than I could. With just 160 acres not near enough acres to feed the amount of livestock we had. Needed 40 acres of hay, 20 acres for hay for cattle, 20 acres hog pasture. 40 acres oats for straw and start alfalfa seeding for next year and last 80 was all corn. Probably needed another 160 acres to raise enough corn for the hogs. There would have been a self-propelled combine for harvesting that corn.
We feed ground ear corn, supplemented with an increasing ratio of shell corn as our calves get closer to finish. Free choice hay, salt, mineral, and water, while they are running on pasture. We have around 40 head of cows, and raise the calves from birth to fat. I came back home around 13 years ago to find my family still struggling to pick ear corn with Grandpa's old worn-out mounted NI picker. We figured out it was worth raising them on ear corn, so I set out to purchase a couple of NI pull-type pickers. Next thing I know, I am the proud owner of FOUR NI324/327s for less than $2K. The last one showed up in my barnyard when I wasn't home. (chuckle) I thought I might have to lock the gate for a while, for fear of being overrun! We started picking with the worst of the 4, and by keeping that picker running, we quickly learned all about them. It's now a parts picker, and we have 2 runners left plus one picker that needs a lot of rusty chains replaced. We have learned how to pick narrow-row corn with the wide-row machine, just have to pay a little more attention and run the snoots about a foot off the ground. I have purchased 2 working Kewanee elevators locally for $100 each, and have passed on other good-looking elevators for the same price that were just too far away to haul home. We pick about 1 "squirrel cage" crib full every year, plus 3 wagons filled and backed into the shed. We grind that with a Farmhand grinder that I bought on a nearby farm auction. It's in pretty good shape, and we have a 2nd working grinder and a parts grinder, all Farmhands. We run everything with a small herd of AC D17s. We sell 1/4-1/3 of our beeves direct to customers, and the rest through whatever buyer is paying the most at the time. We have the momma cows on pasture for most of the year, and on the stalks through the winter. They do a great job of cleaning up the field.
When I was raising hogs I fed ear corn and pelleted supplement. I started grinding because it made it easier to make sure they had enough feed in front of them while I was at work. in the harvest and planting season ,it got hard to make sure they always had feed. Still have nightmares about having hungry hogs though mine neve3r were lol.
I feed ground ear corn to around 100 head of sheep and goats. Our mix is 1600 lbs of ear corn, 400 lbs of bean meal 48% and 1 bale of alfalfa. I use an Artsway built Ih 1050 grinder mixer to make the feed. We feed the ewes and does, about 1 -1.5 lb per day, starting 45 days before lambing / kidding. Then we feed until after weaning, then back on just pasture for adults, feed out kids and lambs on same basic mix, but about all they can eat, with free-choice hay.
I am the only person I know in this area that does this. Its some extra work, but we dont need 1,000s of bushels, so I invite some friends and family over and we pick corn, eat and have a good time, so it doesnt seem like a lot of extra work at our scale. I paid $600 for a 323 picker, $500 for a gravity wagon, and another one was given to me, $120 for an elevator, $800 for Grinder mixer, and $50 for an old milk tank I made into a simple feed bin that holds about a ton. The crib I use, was already here, I just fixed it up some. So for around $2,000, I have a feed system that works for me. To have feed delivered in bulk here runs $350 -$400 ton, if less than 5 tons they add on $80-100extra delivery charge. My corn, for seed, spray, fuel, fertilizer/ lime etc. , but not counting my time, or depreciation on my 50 year old equipment, costs me about $2.10 per bushel on a shell corn basis. Im paying $11.00 for a 50 lb bag of bean meal picked up at the mill, I dont count transportation cost on that because I can put the 8 bags of bean meal in my car I commute to work in , and pick it up on my way home, so I was making the trip regardless. If I had to haul a full ton of bagged or bulk feed, Id have to take a truck, and then I would need to figure in transportation costs. So anyway, if I use my own corn that I never had to haul off the farm, dry, or pay storage on, my cost on a ton of 16% feed is; corn $60, bean meal $88, alfalfa $6, mineral mix $10, total $164 a ton, my time, and some old equipment. It really doesnt take very many tons to make me think I will keep doing this. Im not an economics or business professor, but I think my numbers are pretty accurate. The best I can come up with is theres a lot of hidden costs in getting from the ear of corn to a bag of feed or farm bulk bin. I believe all the savings are in the transportation, processing, mixing exotic ingredients etc., a lot of people need to make money along the way when your corn goes to town and comes back as prepared feed.That being said, the thing I may like most about ear corn is the sense of security and accomplishment I get when I look at the full crib here before winter and know, regardless of economic turmoil, blizzard snows, broke down vehicles, or whatever, I can go out there with a shovel and a bucket if I had to and keep my stock fed well. Same feeling I get from a well stocked wood shed, or canning garden vegetables, and to me thats worth a lot.
