Thousands of acres of corn stubble (after grain harvested) are grazed
every winter in New Zealand.
Maize is low in sodium and other minerals so they have to be fed
(best through the drinking water) in which case the cattle will do
well.
The stubble must be treated like pasture - strip grazed daily, or
they will walk over it and trample and soil a lot.
Molasses also helps, but is not essential.
If grain harvested stubble is fed on its own, cattle don't do well
and gradually do worse and some can become constipated. If grazed
with some pasture they do very well.
Whole maize plants are also grazed at the green stage in New Zealand
in the summer dry period and cattle do well on it. Old dry maize will
have old dry hard cobs which can choke cattle and the grain can go
straight through and not be digested.
I would harvest the grain first.
>Hello everyone!
> I have often thought about grazing corn but have never tried it.
>One drawback for me has been the fact that it is not ready for
>grazing until late summer or early fall. So yesterday I got this
>brainwave to leave corn in the field all winter and then, in the
>spring and summer, let the cattle graze corn and pasture. (I don't
>have silo space for corn silage all year round).
> Has anyone else tried this? Do cattle graze old dried out corn? We
>can sometimes get lots of snow here so will the crop loss be too
>great?
> I look forward to your comments and feel free to laugh at my silly
>brainwave!
>
> Bill Los Ontario Canada
>
>
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--
Best wishes,
Vaughan Jones
