For about the next month I will be feeding sweet corn stalks to my cattle herd. Several people in the area raise quite a bit and call me to come get the stalks when they have pulled off all they want. Since my main suppliers aren't quite ready yet, I put an ad in the local paper and hauled off a flatbed truck load this morning from someone else.

It a bit like the Ovalteen (sp?) commercial - tastes good and is good for you. Plus, about half the stalks will still have good ears on them. They go for the ears first, tassles second, leaves third, then the stalks. Only the bottoms of thick stalks are left, and some of the older cattle even like to chew on these.

I know they like them since when they see me coming to the field they come a-running.

If you have cattle I recommend you try to find sources of sweet corn stalks as summer pasture supplement.

(As a rule of thumb, four rows 80' long is a flatbed load for me. I usually feed only one load a day, but will do two if the corn is starting to turn brown.)

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), July 19, 2001

Answers

Hi Ken,

We have fed sweet corn stalks to our steer for years. you are right they make a great suppliment this time of year. I was curious what you use to cut the stalks since you use so many? I have used a sharp hoe in the past but am always looking for easier ways to do things.

thanks

-- sm4farm (dshans@hotmail.com), July 19, 2001.

I use a machette and chop off the stalks about 6" above the ground. Just grab as many stalk as my hand can hold, chop and toss up on the bed cut end towards the back. I'll back the truck up periodically so I don't have to haul them too far.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), July 19, 2001.

hi Ken, you're right about the corn stalks. When we lived in Texas, though, I hesitated about the corn, esp. after a dry spell. It's like Johnson grass after a drought and then a rain, it gets the poisoning--you probably know what it's called, I can't think of it.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), July 19, 2001.

Wow Ken........you would fit right in in Haiti.........you see men out with their machetes everyday harvesting just like you!!!! Oh, but they have an ox cart not a truck.........:>)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), July 19, 2001.

Mary:

I believe it is called nitrate poisoning. Normally it happens with Sudan grass or a cross, such as Sudex, far more than Johnson grass. Even here, I think would would have to pretty well being feeding exclusively on it, such as hay during the winter.

I haven't heard it happening with corn before, but corn is of the grass family.

Also, the cattle don't have free choice to it, such as being let into a standing corn field. It is limited fed.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), July 19, 2001.

Ken: Any thoughts as to whether or not it is safe to feed stalks that have smut on them? I understand it is considered a delicacy in Mexico, but we've always tried to carefully get rid of any stalks with it on, so that we didn't have it spread. Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), July 20, 2001.

Jan: If you are referring to ears which appear to have some type of fungus growth on them, I have fed them with no problems.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), July 20, 2001.

Ken and others,

Could a guy bundle up the stalks and store them to augment winter feeding?

-- Paul (pbray@tds.net), July 20, 2001.

Yes, that use to be the way at least cattle were fed, in part, through winter. However, it would be better to convert it into silage if practical.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), July 20, 2001.

P.S. I try to harvest the stalks before 8 AM. I have chopped in the evening and found the stalks to be dry. Next morning the next batch is moist again. I think what happens is the hot sun/weather sucks out the moisture during the day, and the stalks recharge themselves at night. Were I to store them, then perhaps chopping in the late evening would be OK, but for silage or direct feeding, chop early.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), August 30, 2001.