FINDING FORAGE FOR CATTLE
The rains over the past few weeks have certainly greened things up around our countryside and solved most of our winter
water problem for livestock, but it has not cured our lack of forage (hay) for winter feed.
One of the “extra” places looked to for stock feed is our corn fields after the grain is harvested. Grazing of corn
stover has long been a late fall and winter feeding practice, and particularly fits a spring calving operation where cows are dry and in mid gestation, since this is
when they can get by with the lowest amount of feed and nutrients. While grazing a corn stover field, the cattle will tend to eat the leaves and shucks first, along
with leftover weeds. They’ll also pick up any leftover grain lying around. The very last thing they’ll eat will be the stalk of the corn plant.
Without fencing, it is difficult to graze corn stover. So, to avoid having to move livestock to the corn field, we have
the technology at hand to move the corn stover to the livestock, through the large round bales. This is a new phenomenon, so here is a quick discussion based on some
early observations and tests.
UK Beef Specialist Kevin Laurent set up a quick trial using rolled corn stalks fed to both a group of dry cows and a
group of cows just calved. They weighed all corn stover fed to the animals each day, and the feed bunks were cleaned each day and stalks that the cattle refused were
also weighed to get an estimate of waste or refusal. A certain amount of stalks were pulled out of the bunk and into the pen and was not weighed due to soiling by the
cattle. The cattle chosen for the trial were dry cows with an average weight of 1265 lbs. and lactating cows that averaged 1280 lbs, with newborn fall calves at their
sides. The pairs were penned separately from the dry cows and both pens had access to a 37% protein block (19%NPN) throughout the three week period. The pens had
concrete floors and were bedded with sawdust so cows had access to no other feed or dry matter.
The results of this 3 week trial are as follows:
The dry cows gained .43 lbs/day while eating 13.5 lbs of rolled corn stalks per day, refusing 29.2%, while also eating
2.2 lbs of protein. The lactating cows lost .76 lbs/day while eating 13.6 lbs of corn stalks per day, refusing 37.2%, and eating 2.8 lbs of protein.
The trials indicate that a winter feeding program of rolled corn stalks and protein blocks may not be a very sound
option. Energy supplementation will be needed to allow even dry cows to gain adequate weight for spring calving. A very high degree of waste or refusal will likely be
associated with feeding rolled corn stalks.
Ration Balancing programs indicate that approximately 5 pounds per day of a supplement such as soyhulls should be fed
with cornstalks and protein block to put adequate weight gain on spring calvers.
