# ear corn



## cdrgrvfm (Aug 17, 2003)

Is there any problems feeding whole ear corn to cows?Should it be chopped into half or thirds or is whole OK?


----------



## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

I've seen cows eat whole ears all my life, and never seen one choke on it. I really think it would be much easier on the cow if the ears were in smaller pieces. My Grandmother had an old holstien cow she milked by hand while she was busy chewing up whole corn cobs with a couple inches of grain left on the pointed end after she had shelled the rest for her laying hens. The cow ran free all day on the gravel country road where she lived. There were 3 neighboring farms less that a quarter mile away. The old cow gave them free lawn service, but no one complained.


----------



## Reformed_Farmer (Jan 10, 2005)

_Is there any problems feeding whole ear corn to cows?Should it be chopped into half or thirds or is whole OK?_

You can feed it that way, but they are not going to get much out of it. Grind it up, otherwise you are just wasting corn.


----------



## lilsassafrass (May 13, 2002)

Reformed_Farmer said:


> _Is there any problems feeding whole ear corn to cows?Should it be chopped into half or thirds or is whole OK?_
> 
> You can feed it that way, but they are not going to get much out of it. Grind it up, otherwise you are just wasting corn.



Tell that to folks who hog down corn fields .. a very common practice around here 

For those who dont know .. that means turning stock out into corn fields in the fall and winter ....works fine to glean harvested fields .. or to make use of a cornfield that for one reason or another cannot be harvested conventually ..

If a cow is piggy about eating cob corn than she wont chew it up thouroughly
so waste occurs ... even though whole kernels pass through there has been some nutrition extracted , 

I feed whole cobs to my herd all the time for treats ...

There is a feed additive that folks who feed out show steers and heifer can use called tenderlean ... it allows the cows system to extract complete nutrition from whole kernal corn .. (A friend of mine uses it on their 4 H steers ... ) it can be vary alarming to watch all the feed you use pass right on through .... but it is used only on market animals as it eventually destroys the kidneys and livers 
there are other products as well ....


----------



## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

It was common for farmers that were feeding corn to cattle to run some pigs with them. The pigs were great recyclers of corn not completely digested by the cattle. Chickens also can make their living with a few head of cattle being feed grain.


----------



## mikeg (Feb 4, 2003)

you would probably be money ahead to have it ground up cob and all for the extra nutrition the cattle would get. You could feed more stock or use less corn than you would.


----------



## rwood (Jan 15, 2005)

Just wondering,



uncle Will in In. said:


> It was common for farmers that were feeding corn to cattle to run some pigs with them. The pigs were great recyclers of corn not completely digested by the cattle. Chickens also can make their living with a few head of cattle being feed grain.


Running all three together (chickens free ranging from portable coop) in the corn field until it is finished and removing the cows first, pigs second and then the chickens sounds like a good way to utilise all the feed qualities of the corn field and provide some plowing and then working in of some good varieties of manures for the next crop.

Is that the idea? Is that a good idea for say a 1 - 2 hectare corn field? 

Raphael


----------

