Sparing the Corn Crop!

Diversity in farming is critical!  If a farmer's operation is centered around one thing thriving and that one thing doesn't thrive for a season, it can be really devastating.  This year, as everyone probably already knows and is tired of hearing about already, the corn crop fell devastatingly short of thriving. 

We, however, very gratefully have a way to spare the crop.  Even though we aren't reaping the grain, we can use what is there (the stalk) to create feed that will last us one, maybe even two, years!  We heard on a farm report just a couple of days ago that even if no ears develop on the stalk (as is the case in many of this year's fields), 85% of the plant's energy (feed) source is still viable.  We can harvest that 85% for feed and save (kinda sorta) the crop!  This is where being diverse in one's farming operation is key.  Many farmers are at a point of losing a great percentage on their crop because they only benefit from selling the grain: the less grain, the greater profit loss.  But since we have cattle that will eat not only the grain but the silage from the whole plant as well, we are able to harvest the corn now while it is of still great value to us.  (Don't get me wrong!  We would have certainly been thrilled with a bumper corn crop, but glad we can still use what we got!)

I promised in the drought post that I would post about chopping corn silage for my new readers that haven't been able to see the one I previously posted about chopping silage.  There's a couple new pictures, a re-post of last years post about chopping and explanations in red that explain differences.  Just read it... you'll catch on:

Re-post:
... keep that bagger baggin'! Baggin', baggin', baggiiiiiin.....Its feeeeeed! (Sung to the tune of "Rawhide".)

A few weeks ago, I blogged about mowing, chopping and storing hay in the silo. This post is about another way that haylage (chopped hay) (corn silage - chopped corn) can be stored for an extended period of time, two years if need be. Its called an AgBag and I'll do my best to explain how it works.

Once the hay (corn) is mowed and chopped into the wagons ), it is brought onto the yard where the AgBag is located. An AgBag is just what the name implies: an AGricultural BAG made from very durable, weatherproof plastic used for storing feed. The AgBag is attached to the bagger.

The bagger has a conveyor (the blue thing you see here) that carries the chopped hay (or chopped corn silage) from the load out from the wagon up and into a rotor. The rotor is a rotating mechanism that has "fingers" that pushes the hay (corn) out the back of the bagger and into the bag. The hay (corn) gets super compacted and air tight so that spoilage won't occur.

A little closer look at the conveyor. The black hoses you see are hydraulic hoses that run the hydraulic motor for the conveyor. The PTO from the tractor runs the rotor.

The bag is hooked onto the bagger where ever the farmer wants the end of his 200 foot bag to be for the next however long it takes to feed all the hay (corn). Then, the tractor is left in neutral. As the haylage (corn silage) compacts into the bag and the bag fills up, the tractor is pushed along in front.

This is the cable. The cable holds the backstop at the end of the bag. Once there is a certain amount of pressure on the cable, the tractor and bagger inches forward. The cable mechanism allows the hay (corn silage) to be compacted as much as possible, taking out all the oxygen and starting the fermentation process. The hay (corn silage) ferments just like in the silo. When the bag is full, the cable is released and winched back up, the backstop removed, the tail tucked under and all the farmer has to do is wait for those cold, cold snowy Iowa days to start feeding from the bag.

There ya go. Two hundred (give or take) feet of cow chow.
(That's about two hundred TONS, by the way!)

Now for just a couple of pictures from just recently.



This is a chopper.  I've also already blogged about this, so without too much repetition, I'll give the short explanation that its a machine fitted with "knives" that chop the stalk off a few inches off the ground, runs it through the machine and chops it into fine pieces suitable for cattle feed.  The unusual thing about this picture is that the date is July 28th.  At least six weeks earlier than normal chopping time! 

And this is what the results look like.  This "stuff" is what we are filling bags up with.

And that, folks, is how we'll save at least part of our crops!  At the risk of sounding like a broken record or unsympathetic to those who can't use their crops in this way, I can't emphasize enough how grateful we are to still have a feed source for our cattle, despite awful conditions.