By Russ Quinn
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- As many Midwest farmers do after the corn harvest in the fall, Daren Niemeyer grazes his beef cows on his corn stalks. The Bladen, Nebraska, farmer uses the leftover crop residue as inexpensive feed for his cows and also for the benefits he believes it has for next year's crop.
"It is cheap feed for my cows, as I make sure they have plenty of protein when I have them on stalks," Niemeyer told DTN. "Plus, I feel that I do not have much for volunteer corn the next year in my soybeans."
However, not all farmers feel as Niemeyer does. Some don't graze their corn stalks as they are concerned about several agronomic issues, chief among them negatively affecting the yield of the next crops.
UNL GRAZING SURVEY
An online survey from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension distributed to 545 Nebraska farmers gave an interesting look at how these farmers view grazing corn residue. The results of the survey were released by UNL on March 1.
Thirty-nine percent said they were grazing their stalks with their own livestock, while another 39% said they did not graze their stalks. Fifteen percent said they were renting out their stalks for grazing, while 6% both grazed their own stalks and also rent stalks. Of the farmers who did rent out their corn stalks, the majority (41%) charged $11 to $15 an acre.
Of the farmers who did not graze their stalks, 48% reported they would not allow their residue to be grazed regardless of the rental fee, while 38% said they would be willing to rent their residue for $15 per acre or less.
Farmers who did not graze their stalks were asked the reasons for not grazing. Forty percent indicated that they felt grazing caused soil compaction. The negative impact on their farming practices (no-till or ridge-till) was the next-highest response at 33%. Other choices included: do not have water available for livestock (31%), livestock producers will not pay for what the stalks are worth (31%), grazing will interfere with fall fieldwork (25%), do not have the ability to fence (19%), and reduces yield of next crop (5%).
Farmers do have some reservations about grazing cattle on corn stalks, according to Tim Shaver, UNL nutrient management specialist at the West Central Research Extension Center in North Platte. In a webinar focusing on grazing corn stalks on Friday, March 4, Shaver said he hears from farmers regularly, many with corn and soybean rotations, about the possible negative effects grazing residue could have on their soybean crops.
Shaver pointed to two long-term studies being conducted at two different UNL research farms. A 20-year grazing study has been done in Mead in east-central Nebraska while an eight-year study has been done at Brule in the western part of the state to investigate the effects of grazing and baling corn stalks.
At Mead, a full soil analysis was done on soil that was not grazed, fall grazed and spring grazed in strips across the field. Some differences were seen in total soil aggregates, water-stable aggregates and soil bulk density (especially with the spring grazing) but nothing that affected yields of crops planted in the field the next year. Soil aggregates are groups of soil particles that bind to each other more strongly than to adjacent particles. Aggregate stability refers to the ability of soil aggregates to resist disruption when outside forces -- usually associated with water -- are applied.
In the Brule study, a pivot circle was divided up into pie-shaped sections and light grazing, heavy grazing and baling corn stalks were done. As with the Mead study, some difference were noted with the soil analysis in the heavy grazed and baled segments, but again, nothing seemed to affect yields.
"Overall, there was no effect on yields and little effect on soil properties if proper grazing management techniques were used," Shaver said. "Some may not see the value in these long-term studies as they don't seem to prove anything, but we also need to know what doesn't work either."
SOME GRAZE, SOME DON'T
One farmer who does not graze his corn stalks is Quentin Bowen, who farms near Humboldt, Nebraska. The southeast Nebraska farmer does not have any of his own cattle and in the past has rented out his corn stalks to neighbors, a practice he has moved away from in recent years.
"To me, it is too much of a hassle for little to no reward," Bowen told DTN.
Bowen said when he did rent out his corn stalks in the past, he did have some issues with soil compaction. The cows had to stay on the field longer than expected because it was too muddy for the owner of the cows to get the cows off the field. The field was rock-hard when he when to plant it, he said.
"When it is not planting nice, I feel it's even maybe costing me money," Bowen said.
Niemeyer said the only place he see slight compaction issues grazing his cattle is on a trail where they walk to get to water and then by the water tank if it is in the field. With 100% of his acres in no-till, he lives with the slight compaction in these relatively small areas of the field.
"Sometimes I think running a grain cart causes more (compaction) problems than the cows do," Niemeyer said.
Doug Saathoff farms near Trumbull in south-central Nebraska. While he does not own any cattle, he does have most of his stalks grazed in the fall. He has brought in cattle from the Nebraska Sandhills before, but usually he lets his neighbors graze their cattle on them.
"I don't really lease them out, but they will give me a little something for them," Saathoff said.
Saathoff raises seed corn and he said grazing cattle "love" seed-corn stalks. In addition, there are times quite a bit of corn is left behind when they are done picking, so it is good to have cattle graze on the stalks to clean up the missed ears.
There tends to be more corn left in a field after seed-corn harvest because the seed-corn pickers go faster than a combine would go. There are whole and/or partial ears on the ground. Some years are worse than other years, he said.
Another item associated with seed corn is that it is usually harvested earlier than field corn, so cow owners like the fact they can get the cows out on the stalks earlier. There is not as much residue associated with seed corn, so you have to be careful not to remove too much, he said.
"I don't see any harm in letting cows graze as long they don't remove too much residue, and they are not out there when it is muddy," Saathoff said.
Another farmer who grazes stalks is Sam Morse who farms with his family near Columbus, Nebraska. They will graze their own stalks for their cows, and they will also lease out another few hundred acres for others to graze their cattle.
Grazing stalks is a cheap feed source for their cows, and leasing out stalks provides a nice supplemental income. He points out it is nice to eliminate volunteer corn issues in soybeans and manage some residue issues in a high-yielding corn-on-corn rotation. Roughly 75% of their corn acres are in corn-on-corn rotation on their east-central Nebraska farm.
"We try to manage compaction as best as we can by moving cows to different soil types as the ground freezes and/or soil moisture changes," Morse said.
Russ Quinn can be reached at russ.quinn@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN
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