The Feed Crop, Grain, Forage and Soil Health Thread

[Southside]

My what big ears you have there @Nebraska  :D  :D  :D

Many pto driven, single row corn choppers used to be along fence rows in the iron pile on old farms.  Probably the last scrap metal peak claimed a lot of them.  They ran on low HP, but like anything else went out of favor given their efficiency.  If it's you and one other guy trying to get the $300-$400 / acre cash expense corn in before the weather turns do you want to chop one row at a time or 16?  

To me if you want to put up a good forage, and do so with less investment, and lower risk, then baleage of perennial grasses and legumes are the key.   

[farmfromkansas]

The neighbors have a 12 row cornhead and they mount it on their silage chopper, and grind up just the ears, and call it "earlage".  They have a pile of earlage along with a pile of silage, and a lot of round bales, they grind the round bales, store it under a pole type building, also have a pile of distillers grain, go to the trench and pile on so many pounds of silage, so many earlage, so much distillers grain, and so many pounds of ground hay, mix it up in a silage truck and put it in feed line bunks.  They usually feed 1200 steers.  Me, just have a cow calf operation, and I feed bales.  The alfalfa I can unroll on winter pasture, have about 100 bales of oats baled when the grain was in milk stage, and hope to be able to unroll that on the grass.  One bale will tell if it will work.  Otherwise, brome and native grass go in bale feeders in the corral, which I leave open unless the cows need worked. Feeding on the grass creates a lot of cow patties, and that helps keep the native grass healthy.

[newoodguy78]

It's a shame how much farm equipment got scrapped, some of it still had plenty of use left for smaller operations.
I agree making baleage is probably the most efficient way for smaller operations to make high quality feed.
If nothing else it takes a bit of the weather struggle out of making higher quality hay.

[Nebraska]

Those little choppers  are still lurking about, my dad owned half of a single row Ford unit.  I remember dad chopping forage sorghum silage when I was a little boy. I don't remember where it went.  Seems like we ran it on a 70hp propane buring Minneapolis Moline tractor.

Mike take a look at Ag bag. I have folks using it for silage/haylage, dry and wet corn storage in the field.  If I were going to mess with the green chop silage like you are, I would  try those 3 mil contractor cleanup bags fill them seal them then stack them up. (OK no really I would buy a silage kit for my round baler and wrap the bales.... its been thought about)...Since you have a back  hoe though, you could make a trench lined with plastic sheeting then fill/pack until heaped and cover with a plastic tarp and use dirt to seal the edges and old tires to weight it down as long as the O2 is shut off it should  ferment well.  The pile will shrink. Enjoy the learning.

[mike_belben]

I pickled the corn chop fines today, literally.  Theyre in a drum with water, salt, vinegar, some yogurt and probiotic chick grit to attempt dropping PH and innoculating before yeast and mold eat it.  Will see what happens. 

[newoodguy78]

 :P

[Southside]

Why do I keep hearing "Copperhead Road" playing in the background now while reading Mike's posts?  :D

[farmfromkansas]

I have a neighbor who bought a bale wrapper.  Think the brand is Anderson. It has 2 rolls of plastic, and a gas engine with a belt, and the thing spins the bales and wraps them with the plastic. He gets it wrapped tight enough to seal, and can put wrap on a row of bales.  Start at the beginning, just put the bales on the rear of the wrapper and keep adding bales till the whole row is wrapped. Has a plastic cap to seal the ends.  He baled his sedan green, and when he took it out of the row it was still green.  Cows loved the stuff.  Said he would wrap for 3$ plus cost of plastic, but you have to have all the bales carried up so you can put a bale on the wrapper every 30 seconds.  Thing is fast. I looked at the bags, looks like a lot of trouble to get them put on and sealed, decided the millet and sorghum sedan feed is just not all that great, as the cows turn their noses up at it.  Baled dry. Decided to try oats for forage.

[moodnacreek]

'fraid Its gonna be a while on that trip doug. I will be sure to stop and harrass you though.

It's long overdue.  If you stay down there any longer your gonna lose your Yankee accent.

[Southside]

I have a 3 point hitch wrapper, makes individual bales that way, uses more wrap but provides flexibility. Makes great feed. 

[mike_belben]

'fraid Its gonna be a while on that trip doug. I will be sure to stop and harrass you though.

It's long overdue.  If you stay down there any longer your gonna lose your Yankee accent.

luckily im from the part of the state that doesnt have one.  the not boston side.

[mike_belben]

Why do I keep hearing "Copperhead Road" playing in the background now while reading Mike's posts?  :D

its funny that ive never met anyone in the south making moonshine.  meth absolutely, seems like 1 in 3, but not shine.  my brother up north had all kinds of stills for a while.  and i coulda made a mess of them by now but its just not my jam.  i study the word every day.  


i did have a novel thought today.. why dont i just go find the itty bitty hipster micro brews and find out exactly what fancy grains they want. they can put all that local, non gmo, all natch, pesticide free organic vegan unfertilized blah blah labelling on to make it extra exclusive.  so far i can grow wheat and rye like red maple sprouts. then i could get the spent grains back for feed after theyve already paid me once. feed it to meaty things and it pays me again.

[mike_belben]

yesterday i used some really high tech stuff - a busted kiddie pool, a yellow plastic stick with bubbles in it, a scrapped server enclosure vent door, plastic barrel and slave labor - to sort the fines from the unfines.  ran the unfines through the chipper again but it just cant reduce this stuff any more unless it dries out, which i guess will have to just be fine with me.





im on the fence about a test batch of fermenting/pickling the coarse shreds to see if pigs, deer or cows like it in winter.. or just turning it back into the compost pile.  yes, the dirt would be happy with it but i would glean no new information from that.  


theres the first mash experiment.  charts are showing that if i did it right, itll be at its best around mid february which is perfect. in terms are predigesting starches and fibers, and staying at a low and stable PH to prevent bad juju.






my thought here is that i bet i can get some free little meaty things in winter when the feed bill and heating bill is hurting someone who has to make some tough choices.  so maybe having fence and food for free little meaty things in winter is a good way to get started growing meaty things.  i will bet livestock prices go in my favor every single winter.  what are yalls thoughts on that?

[mike_belben]

so the woodchippered corn cobs went to a different bucket.  the one that should plump up some cornish crosses for the freezer.

grabbed the mini sickle, took a few laps around the various corners of my overgrown yard and rounded up the split tomatoes, a fistfull of dock, arm full of yellow sweet clover with a bit of red clover, some giant ragweed, a good clump of ryegrass and a bundle of really fresh, lush crabgrass tops.  



tossed that all on the ground, and hit it with my push bagger mower.  next time i will dump it out and do it again.  this was matched with about an equal amount of corn stover fines on the green side.





then combined with the yellow side that really keeps birds hammering it looking for yellow flecks ..





and finally...





made 1 full pail and dumped all the same inoculant junk in there to try to get it firing with lactic and acetic acid.  plus the vinegar to give it a jumpstart in PH decline and hopefully keep the juju away.  all rainwater by the way.  chlorinated water will kill the lacto whatever strains im trying to promote.


i already know they love it.  the question is, will they be healthy and will they reach market weight in the normal time frame. and will they taste good.  ive got a little under $100 into this whole experiment including the birds and all their accessories and supplements.  a lot cheaper than sending boy to a 4 year AG program.  

[mike_belben]

this guy is a dandy. 

Walt Davis Ranch :: Romancing the Clover Gods

[Tacotodd]

Mike, your boy sure is turning out to be a man right before our eyes! Good job on the training👍

[farmfromkansas]

All the forages will keep well if you get it dry and keep it dry.  The bottom of round bales is a problem, as they get wet from rain on the ground.  So I have taken to laying 2 poles about 2' apart to put a row of bales on.  Keeps the bottom dry.  And varmints have not been a problem so far.  
Alfalfa can tolerate more moisture than grass.  Don't have enough poles so have been putting rows of bales on top of terraces.  Figure water runs away both directions, but it is only slightly better than other places.  In grass hay, the bottoms smell musty if you store them on the ground. 

[mike_belben]

I think we have a stretch of the punk phase before he starts acting like a man, but thank you Todd.  I am confident he will be able to feed his kids one way or another. 

[moodnacreek]

'fraid Its gonna be a while on that trip doug. I will be sure to stop and harrass you though.

It's long overdue.  If you stay down there any longer your gonna lose your Yankee accent.

luckily im from the part of the state that doesnt have one.  the not boston side.

Don't bet on that. [everybody knows I'm from New York]

[mike_belben]

if i had the brains to bet on it id have been a millionaire by now. Ive met thousands of people since bootcamp and "you dont have an accent" woulda been a winning lotto ticket.  as long as i dont say wicked, people usually cant guess where im from.

[moodnacreek]

Well Mike even though i am always right I have never met you in person so just maybe I'm a little off. One thing is for sure; the natives know your not from there. It sounds like you could be from California, you know, where the Peterbuilt's came from.  

[mike_belben]

 wrong again doug, peterbilts come from heaven.   ;D



When i stop by ill put on a bahston accent just to mess with you.  ;)

[moodnacreek]

Your pretty good Mike.

[mike_belben]

So when are you gonna start peeing on your sawdust pile to sell organic compost to the sustainable citiots with balcony farms?

[mike_belben]

this guy is very under rated.  i suspect the current leadership that is making a lot of money teaching truly sustainable and regenerative everything, learned much of it from walt davis. 

Walt Davis Ranch :: Biological Capital