By Jared Brockman
Special to TMN
Feed is expensive: Grazing cows on corn stalks helps the rancher and the farmer. Ranchers need a place to graze their cows, so why not turn to farmers and their cornfields? The cows will eat the residue (leftover corn, corncob, stalks and husks), and the cows’ manure will be an added fertilizer benefit to next year’s crop.
A big concern for ranchers is how to feed their cows, the next question being how can they do it the most cost effective way, not spending a lot and getting the most return at sale time. With the price of feed often climbing higher and higher every year, ranchers are looking to alternative feeding solutions. One solution is grazing field residue, and corn stalks can offer a good source of food. After the combine goes through the field, residue blows out the back of it, and not every ear is picked. Some fall through the header and some fall off the plant. Depending on the year, the amount of bushels left in the field vary from 5 to 55 bushels, especially if there’s a lot wind.
The number of cows put out in a field depends on a lot of things: the amount of acreage available; the quantity of corn in the field; the length of time the rancher plans on leaving them out there; and how quickly the cows will consume the corn. The rancher doesn’t want the cows to eat just the residue or just the corn; the cow needs to consume them together to get the most nutritional value.
Then the rancher will place metal or plastic tubs full of vitamins and minerals by the water tanks. The corn and residue doesn’t meet all the vitamin and minerals needed to keep a cow fully healthy. The water tanks have to be filled almost every day because water is another essential nutrient in a cows’ diet.
Why would farmers even let the ranchers put their cows out on corn stalks? With all that extra corn just lying in the field, why don’t farmers just go out and pick it up by hand? That would be very time consuming and, depending on how much is left, could be just a waste of time.
Another problem is that when there is so much leftover corn, the farmer will have a problem in the next growing season with volunteer corn. Cows are a less expensive way for the farmer to control the volunteer stand.
Will there be any residue left in the field? The cows won’t eat the leftover stalks, which will leave about 25-percent residue.
Another benefit is what the cattle produce fertilizer. The amount depends on how much feedstuff is out in the field, how long the rancher keeps his animals in the field, and how many animals are out there. The more animals, the more manure, and the same goes with how long they are kept in the field.
Compaction is a dissatisfying word to hear for a farmer. Research from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln says that compaction is measured as an increase in bulk density or penetration resistance, and can affect a plant’s ability to acquire water, nutrients, and nutrient diffusion to roots, consequently reducing crop yield. The myth is that cows will cause a compaction layer and make it so that next season’s crop will have trouble growing.
The University of Nebraska in 2017 finished a three-year study at five locations, concluding there is no biologically significant compaction on cropland or negative impacts on subsequent crop yields. Researchers found that grazing benefits soil fertility from a microbial standpoint along with a slight improvement in subsequent yields.
The welfare of the cattle is a top priority in ranching. Grazing corn residue is not only an economical feed source that is able to keep the cattle fed, but it gives the cattle open space and free range. It also allows the feed that would be otherwise wasted by the farmer to become a valuable feedstuff for cattle. Being able to graze corn stalks can be a key to successful ranching.
Jared Brockman, a 2014 Sandy Creek High School graduate, graduated this spring with a degree in general agriculture from Fort Hays State University. He is the son of Steve and Cheryl Brockman, Deweese. This essay on a topic in agriculture was researched and written by a student as part of a project in a senior animal science class at Fort Hays State University.
