AIR October 27, 1999

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. The weather is acting a little Indian Summery now. Maybe we’ll have a nice Halloween for a change! On the other hand, there’s a lot of wheat seed in the ground that could use some rain to help get it up and going!

We are seeing a lot more interest in utilizing crop residue this year for cattle feed. There are probably several reasons driving this. First of all we’re seeing a lot more corn acreage in the area and corn stover has long been known as a good source of fall cow feed. In the fall of the year, those spring calving cows don’t need much to get them by and corn or milo stalks can give them pretty much what they need. A second reason has been the price of cattle. Producers every where are looking for anyway possible to cheapen up the cost production. Utilizing crop residue is a good way to do that. One acre of corn stalks will provide, on the average, from 1.5 to 2.0 AUMs or animal unit months. Keep in mind that one animal unit month is the feed needed to sustain a 1,000 pound cow for one month. IF you have bigger cows they will need more than one AUM for a month. So in theory, if you had an 80 acre field of corn stalks you would have between 120 and 160 AUM’s. This would be enough to keep 50 head of cows going for between 2.5 and 3 months or 100 head of cows for 45 to 60 days. They can stay on the stalks longer, you’ll just need to start supplementing them to keep them in good condition. One thing that we have found out over the years is that at the start of the season, corn stover is a much better feed than milo stover. But the corn stover deteriorates very quickly and by January and February the milo stover will be of better quality. Graze corn stalks first, while they still have high quality and then switch over to milo stalks. Of course, if all you have is one or the other, you use what you have. The next question that I’ve been getting lately is if you are renting what are they worth. I guess that all depends on if you have the cattle or the stalks! We don’t normally rent by the acre but rather by the hundredweight of cattle or more often by the cow day. Rates can range anywhere from 10 to 50 cents per cow per day. The lower rates would be for sorghum, the higher rates for corn. This year I’ve heard of several going for 25 cents per cowday. If there’s a lot of stover, 30 to 35 might not be out of line either. Once again, look to the law of supply demand, but don’t hesitate to make use of that valuable forage resource!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook '99

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