# Baling stalks this fall...



## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

if everyone is planting row crops in place of hay this year as many report, thinking I need to talk a few folks into letting me bale their stalks. Because there needs to be something out there to add to the rations for the cattle to make it bit more cost effective...and no straw left for bedding, so stalks again.

What do you guys think...


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Yep Jim,More and more stalks being baled around here.Alot of bedding.Some are blending it in with hay in the ration either toning down good hay or they are using distillers grain and don't need any protien just a little scratch in rumen.

I say its hard to beat alfalfa in the ration myself.

I will bet anyone $100 that there will be a shortage of alfalfa hay a yr from now.Almost every person I've talked to is cutting back on alfalfa acres.


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

I put up about 250 5x6 bales last fall for myself. The way things are going I'll likely double that next fall. I have had a lot of requests to buy corn stalk bales lately.


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## scrapiron (Mar 10, 2010)

This fall I plan to bale some stalks after I pick a small field of corn. NEVER baled stalks before. Have a M&W baler, do I need to mow them with the disc mower,seems that would work but hard on the pickup, or use the bushhog on them before raking? This is 160 day tropical flint corn grows 9ft tall on our sand, huge ears & kernels, will be used for grits,corn meal and corn flour. Cows will get the corn that is not good enough to grind on the stones.

scrapiron


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## jpritchett (Sep 22, 2009)

scrapiron said:


> This fall I plan to bale some stalks after I pick a small field of corn. NEVER baled stalks before. Have a M&W baler, do I need to mow them with the disc mower,seems that would work but hard on the pickup, or use the bushhog on them before raking? This is 160 day tropical flint corn grows 9ft tall on our sand, huge ears & kernels, will be used for grits,corn meal and corn flour. Cows will get the corn that is not good enough to grind on the stones.
> 
> scrapiron


I have seen alot of guys use there disc mower to put them in a windrow. And then bale it so they dont knock out any teeth in there baler. We tried it with are JD 4995 discmower but it just didnt work for us. It slowed us down. So we just ran are Rowse Rake and raked windrows and put new teeth in are balers. It doesnt take long to put teeth in your baler. Alot of guys i see dragging a tire to knock down the two rows of stalks. But your gonna have to bale the same way you rake it so you do not knock out all your pickup teeth.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

We run our flail type stalk chopper over the whole field, rake it all, then bale.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

scrapiron said:


> This fall I plan to bale some stalks after I pick a small field of corn. NEVER baled stalks before. Have a M&W baler, do I need to mow them with the disc mower,seems that would work but hard on the pickup, or use the bushhog on them before raking?
> scrapiron


I baled some at nieghbors that he mowed with disc mower then we V raked with wheel rake.Didn't work to bad on small acreage.We baled it all, it was black after we raked it.


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## Anthony (Oct 15, 2010)

Using a flail mower with a windrow attachment such as the Hiniker design works best in cornstalks. It shreds the crop for more density. Raking cornstalks is a great way to sandblast the baler and wear out sheet metal keeps the dealership employed and parts guy’s supper happy. Also don’t use a disk mower in front of a square baler unless you enjoy knotter issues. The long stocks raise havoc with normal knotter function.


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## scrapiron (Mar 10, 2010)

Thanks for the information on the mowing. I have a flail mower with Y blades also have an old bushhog with a removeable side that I could use. I don't have a/or access to a combine with a corn head so all will be hand picked and shelled on a belt driven sheller. The stalks will all be standing tall & proud. If everything works out I will have an old combine or corn picker to harvest about 25-40 acres next year. What do I do with the corn cobs, we don't have an outhouse anymore, will the cows eat them ok?? This 3-5 acres will be a learning experience. Will the stalks provide any/much nutriton for the cows ?

I hope the local folks want old style grits & corn meal.

scrapiron


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Typically the stalks here are chewed up pretty good with combine head.I see you are picking by hand so shreading them with flail mower or bush hog would be a better option then mowing.

Have a feed grinder available?Grind the cobs for bedding.Or just make a pile they will lay on them.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Actually if you're going to hand pick it and have access to a feed grinder, run it thru as ear corn. Add a few bags of mineral salt and it makes a good creep feed. All the extra fiber from the cobs keeps em from overeating on the corn. If the ears are dry when picked they'll store for a couple of years in a gravity wagon.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

Windrowing stalks with a flail stalk chopper is the best way to keep the dirt out. The trade-off is that in some conditions it is harder to get the material dried down adequetly. Don't use a wide side delivery windrowing flail chopper in wet stalk or it will never dry out. Hot, worthless bales are the result. Myself, I prefer a 15' center delivery stalk chopper. If the weather or stalk conditions dictate, I remove the windrowing hoods, chop, then use a wheel rake the day I bale. Some locals have commented that JD round balers work better on longer material, so they either use only a rake, or they run over the stalks with a batwing mower and rake later. 
Anthony is right about long stalks and sq balers. The finer, the dryer, the better. 
We, and many others in this area use stalk both for feed and bedding. We feed them to Holstein heifers all year. They will happily eat all but the biggest stalk pieces. Some have cautioned about feeding stalks to pregnant cows due to mold concerns. 
There will be more wear on the equipment, but it can be dealt with, and round stalks need more turns of wrap than other crops, so figure your rates accordingly.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Gearclash said:


> Windrowing stalks with a flail stalk chopper is the best way to keep the dirt out. The trade-off is that in some conditions it is harder to get the material dried down adequetly. Don't use a wide side delivery windrowing flail chopper in wet stalk or it will never dry out. Hot, worthless bales are the result. .


For getting drier stalks I planted a field to conventional corn.The stalks are a lot drier then VT3 corn and break up easier.I just ran a V rake threw standing stalks and they tore off pretty well.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

> For getting drier stalks I planted a field to conventional corn.The stalks are a lot drier then VT3 corn and break up easier.I just ran a V rake threw standing stalks and they tore off pretty well


. 
This is true. I've seen it many times. The only problem is that most people plant GMO corn around here. When a guy wants ALL his stalk acres baled I can't just do his refuge acres:cool:


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Gearclash said:


> .
> This is true. I've seen it many times. The only problem is that most people plant GMO corn around here. When a guy wants ALL his stalk acres baled I can't just do his refuge acres:cool:


Yea I hear ya.

This is for mostly my own use so I'm wieghing all my options.I found a good conventional corn that yields well for me.And its about $100 a bag.So its a win win for me.A little less $ to Monsanto.


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## dairyguyinSEMN (Apr 9, 2011)

Anyone ever heard of a stalk chopper??? Just going in and raking them has to be hard on equipment. And what happens to the broken rake teeth and baler teeth? Could be a good source of Hardware disease or flat tires......

Had some done last year with combine with a chopping head. Also turned off the spreader so the combine made a nice windrow. Just straddled the window with the rake and raked in what was inside the rake. VERY nice bedding........


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## K WEST FARMS (Apr 4, 2011)

Round baled about 70 bales a couple years ago. Sold for bedding. Used my old 1425 JD hydro-swing behind the combine. The baler just followed the haybine row, did not rake. Replaced about 20 sections when I was done cutting!! Basically just did it to remove some cover from the fields so could get quicker start in Spring . It worked!!! John


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

[quote name='dairyguyinSEMN']Anyone ever heard of a stalk chopper??? Just going in and raking them has to be hard on equipment. And what happens to the broken rake teeth and baler teeth? Could be a good source of Hardware disease or flat tires......

QUOTE]

Don't even own a stalk chopper.They are not cheap to own or maintain either.If I was baling more for myself I would maybe own one.And by just raking I take about 50% of it off that field which is about what i need for a yr.

I run a Vermeer 605 SM baler and the teeth don't bend or break!So far anyway.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

My logic about rake only vs stalk chopper is that the stalk chopper is made for the job. Custom operaters in my area are resorting to Darf or Rowse rubber tine wheel rakes to reduce the tine breakage. Regular high cap rakes with standard tines just bust tines by the hand full.

Neighbor I bale for found a broken baler tine with the rear tire of his loader. . . a JD mega something tine I think:eek:



> I found a good conventional corn that yields well for me.And its about $100 a bag.So its a win win for me.A little less $ to Monsanto.


Sounds good to me. Heard last fall on news program that non bt is making more money per acre now because the widespread use of bt has really limited the borer numbers.


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## dairyguyinSEMN (Apr 9, 2011)

I don't own one either, have a neighbor do it for me, and then swap some acres of fall tillage for the stalk chopping. hopefully the guy who does my combining gets his chopping head this year. Want to see for myself how that works out, I make around 3-400 corn stalk bales every year.

I found a small seed company in Wisc., that still has lots of convential corn, called Lemke Seeds.


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