It seems like I post about this every year (or at least take a lot of pictures with good intentions) but there's just something about the transformation of a corn field that's ready for harvest turning into a grazing wonderland for cows. This post is about corn harvest that took place last fall and how it affected our cows!! For my Ag-in-the-Classroom kids, here are a few facts about farmground:- Nationally, farmers average 160 bushels per acre. It will be higher in areas of larger rainfall or irrigation and lower in areas with poor soil quality or dry growing conditions.
- An acre is about the size of a football field minus the end-zones.
- A bushel of corn weighs about 56 pounds.
- A semi truck can haul about 55,000 lbs of corn in a load
- Here's a story problem for you kids out there... The farmer that I rent from has a 100 acre field. He harvested 160 bu per acre. How many semi loads of corn did he haul out of the field?
Check out this video I made while my son was riding with the neighbor in his combine!
So what happens once the corn is harvested?? Well, that's where we come in. The field is left with lots of stalks & leaves off the corn plant as well as a little corn that might have been missed or left behind. This makes perfect winter grazing material for our cows! Think about the timing for a minute... corn harvest is usually in early fall when the grass is starting to go dormant in the pastures. The cows are ready to move on to other forage sources and it's best for the pastures to move the cattle off and let the grass recover and be ready for next spring. Mother Nature has perfect timing as this is when the corn fields are ready for grazing.
There's just one little problem... FENCE. Come back tomorrow to learn how we tackle this little problem and get our cows out to their Field of Dreams!!
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