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HI Judy!
I never responded to your question, because I figured you'd get a ton of
responses. There are various dairy grass farmers in our grazing network
(Fox River Graziers) who have grazed corn quite a bit.
Up here (you'd have to adjust for your location), the guys like to drill
or broadcast (if "bc" use a cultipacker--press) about 3 bushels of
oats/acre as early as possible (as soon as we can put a tractor on the
ground---April up here). Strip graze it when needed before booting (to
develop more shoots), later prepare ground and use ANY type of cheap
leafy/ late maturing corn variety----planting it around here in late
May-early June----strip graze it up to late August in Wisc., then plant
more oats by the 1st of September----fertilize as necessary--for great
stockpiled feed late in the season. With proper fertility, you can get
one heck of a production boost in a summer slump, or mild droughty
conditions.
Another method would be to prepare your ground for brown rib
sorghum-Sudan grass (one bushel /acre) and start grazing it when it's
about 12 inches in height (prussic toxicity), and make sure you don't
graze it after a frost-----can graze all season, with little to no weed
problems---highly productive.
Regards,
Tom Wrchota
----- Original Message -----
From: Judy Decker
To: graze-l@taranaki.ac.nz
Cc: grassfedbeef@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 3:14 PM
Subject: [Graze-l] grazing corn varieties
I am going to assume that there are some varieties of corn better
suited for grazing (cattle) than others. What varieties have some of you
tried? What about row spacing or drilling widths? At what height can
grazing begin, and how well does TDN and protein hold up?
Soybeans. Anybody plant them for grazing? Do you have knowledge of
some varieties that are better for one reason or another? Are they
planted for the normal population, and are they difficult to graze out
before bean set? (we're grassfed beef producers.)
Thanks in advance,
Judy
Renaissance Farms Ltd
Bill and Judy Decker
Emporia, KS
http://www.renfarms.com
