# Wet wrapping corn stalks



## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

I’d like to try baling wet cornstalks right behind the combine then wrapping them to ensile lightly. Curious if anyone has any tips/tricks?


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

We own an individual wrapper and I think an inline would be best for stalks , but if you go individual and they are baled wet enough to heat put plenty of plastic


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

I know mlappin has done it . . . it will give your baler pickup a serious workout . . . I can’t think of anything that feeds harder than wet cornstalks.


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## danwi (Mar 6, 2015)

Do you have a chopping head? A neighbor runs there roller over the stubble then runs his wheel rake same direction as the roller. He usually stacks stalks for bedding but has some round baled also.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Chasing a chopping corn head with the baler would actually be one of the best ways to make stalklage. The stalks behind a chopping head tend to be wet and stay wet. What danwi said about rolling is pretty important. Chopping head stumps will destroy rake tines faster than anything else I know of.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

A innoculant would probably help keep the mold down.

I've baled stalks wetter when we had no other choice for bedding and they had a lot of white mold in them.They were not wrapped tho.Not that big a deal for bedding for cattle but sheep can be more then fussy or just tip over from bad feed.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

We have Calmer knife rolls on our corn head. An inoculant doesn’t t sound like a dumb idea. I better get to work and build another applicator.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

An inoculant would be a good idea. Stalks like to mold. In addition to inoculant I would want to bale slow and tight to make the densest possible bale. I would limit bale size some too. I know from experience that stalks will start to heat once moisture approaches the 25% range, I would want to try to get above the 30% moisture if possible to get good ensiling.


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