Harvest was in full gear as I traveled through the heart of grain country this week. Combines were running, the last of the hay was coming off and beef herds had been weaned or were soon to be weaning spring born calves. Several years back I was traveling with a gentleman from Montana during harvest. The combines got his attention but he was most impressed by the forage available for the cow herd with grazing corn stalks.
Even with the current record cattle prices the rancher philosophy of doing as much as possible for the cows with minimal investment still holds true for maximizing profitability. CRYSTALYX® Low Moisture Self-Fed Supplements have been part of this concept for many years on beef cattle operations around the country. Several recent Block Blogs have explored how various CRYSTALYX® protein supplements enhance the digestion of low quality forage, aid in maintaining body condition and improve performance of the cattle. Some may say that purchased feeds are the largest cost and should be minimized. Actually, forage and more specifically, HAY feeding is the largest cost for the beef operation.
Grazing crop residues and stock piled forages are an excellent way to delay hay feeding. We don’t want to just fill up the cows on these lower quality forages. Corn stalks are typically high fiber, TDN values in the low 50s and crude protein of less than 8%. The investment in a protein supplement while grazing corn stalks will have the immediate benefit of improving fiber digestibility and the long term benefit of fetal programming (http://crystalyx.com/proven-results/calving-breeding.aspx) that will positively impact the performance of the developing calf the cow is carrying. Supplements such as CRYSTALYX® BGF30™ are a labor and time saving, low cost per day investment that can greatly enhance digestibility and utilization of these low quality forages. Best of all, they work for you all day, every day rain or shine when you are busy with the Fall activities that need to get done before winter sets in.
I hear reoccurring questions such as; how long can I graze stalks, how many acres do I need, or what can I afford to pay for rent. There is no single correct answer for all situations, so the answer is it depends…..First you need to know the cost on your operation to feed hay. Don’t forget to estimate what it will cost if you run out of hay in March of 2015. We need to consider all the cost of feeding hay such as shrink, delivery and storage cost. Don’t be fooled by thinking you have some low cost ditch hay that cost “nothing” to feed. Actual cost will vary by operation. The main point is that the cost of feeding hay is more than the cost/ton value of the hay. Efforts to reduce shrink (waste) and delivery cost have a significant impact on the total cost/cow/day.
Now we can discuss the value of grazing corn stalks. The University of Lincoln Extension has developed a spreadsheet that can help in determining the number of acres needed and generate a cost per head estimate that takes hauling and other cost into consideration. With current hay prices and forage inventories, it is interesting to see how far you can economically haul cattle for cheap grazing. The spreadsheet can be found at https://beef.unl.edu/learning/cornstalkgrazingcalc.shtml
The amount of stalks, leaves and husk are a function of grain yield. The yield will impact the days available to graze. The common recommendation is to graze 50% of the total forage available. The spreadsheet will generate an estimate of yield, carrying capacity and estimated cost. The rental rate has the largest impact on total cost. In general, the total cost to graze corn stalks will vary from $0.50 to $1.00 cow/day.
Grazing corn stalks will delay the need to feed stored hay which will in turn reduce total feed cost. Corn stalks will need protein supplementation to be efficiently utilized. Using $1.00/day for corn stalk grazing and estimating CRYSTALYX® Supplement cost at $0.40/day results in a total cost of $1.40 per day which is about half the total $2.95 cow/day cost of feeding hay without a supplement. It is even less than feeding cheap hay by $0.35/cow/day. Improving the efficiency of grazing corn stalks with CRYSTALYX® Low Moisture Supplements will help maintain cows in proper body condition and provide additional nutrients for health and reproduction. It is an easy program to manage and saves labor, time and equipment while better managing your cow weight proactively as we head into winter.
