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abmfarms

Posted 8/14/2014 08:14 (#4017816)
Subject: Corn Silage in a Bale

Kingston, Ohio

If a guy has a silage round baler and a wrapper, can he mow corn down with a discbine and round bale/wrap it? will it work, or be too much hassle for what its worth? no custom silage operators here, but do have access to the silage baler and wrapper. Have 15 acres of corn that may be developed and it could be free to me. developer is paying current farmer for all the crop already..

OldMcdonald

Posted 8/14/2014 08:21 (#4017824 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

Napanee, Ontario

I have also wondered this. I gotta think it would be extremely hard on the equipment. 2" wide and 10' high corn stalk, full cob and 65% moisture... That's a lot different than grass or alf. I think I can already smell belts burning and hear bearings whining.

MCatSHF

Posted 8/14/2014 08:45 (#4017874 - in reply to #4017824)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

Sandy Hook, MB

OldMcdonald - 8/14/2014 08:21 I have also wondered this. I gotta think it would be extremely hard on the equipment. 2" wide and 10' high corn stalk, full cob and 65% moisture... That's a lot different than grass or alf. I think I can already smell belts burning and hear bearings whining.

Hello OldMcdonald

The fellow that I bought my bulls from this spring grows corn for grazing & said that he tried baling some once & wouldn't do it again for that reason.

cows-n-crops

Posted 8/14/2014 08:44 (#4017871 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

NEMO

It can be done. The main drawback is that a lot of the ears will end up on the ground with the impact of mowing, raking and then baling.

outsidethebox

Posted 8/14/2014 09:19 (#4017917 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

Memphis, NY

Find someone with a sickle bar and lay it flat with that, then run your baler behind it in the same direction so you pick it up top-first, without raking.

R-Farm

Posted 8/14/2014 09:24 (#4017930 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

South East Wisconsin

I did this in 2012 during the drought because the corn was not going to mature in time. We used an MC 7 foot flail cutter and raked 2 windrows together with a New Idea side delivery rake. The corn was baled with a Deutz Allis round baler and wrapped with an Anderson. It worked fairly well. The flail cutter made smaller pieces then a discbine would I think which helped with the baling and fermenting. It was hard on the baler teeth but we didn't lose too many of the cobs that were there. The cows cleaned it up pretty well but left some of the longer stalk pieces. Not something I want to do every year but in a pinch or if no other equipment is available it does work. If you could cut a wide enough swath to make a windrow big enough to not need to rake it would be better.

bull

Posted 8/14/2014 09:58 (#4017978 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

Alabama, Land of the Absurd.

The older New Holland Bar/Chain balers were "supposed" to be able to wrap corn.

I never tried it, so don't know how if it worked or not.

JFDairy

Posted 8/14/2014 10:09 (#4017991 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

middle TN

Like others mentioned, I cut and baled corn in 2012. There wasn't much of an ear on it, and what ear was there was knocked off by the conditioning rolls on a 1411 discbine. I didn't rake it, just picked it up behind the discbine. The baler handled it fine, the TMR mixer handled it fine, it fermented and wrapped fine. I have a fixed chamber Krone baler. It has the chain similar to a NH, but not variable chamber, and the chamber is enclosed. I think the NH balers would bale, but the open chamber would lose some of the grain. ,It was probably a little rough on pickup teeth, but that is the weak point on my baler anyway. The weak spot in the idea is getting it cut. I have thought about restoring an old sickle type mower to try whole plant corn again, but haven't done it. If you plan on using a conditioning mower, you will lose a lot of the grain.

Jared in TN

Edited by JFDairy 8/14/2014 10:13

Jim Dandy

Posted 8/14/2014 18:25 (#4018496 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

NW Illinois Stephenson county

Another kind of corn silage bale; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPNU1go5bCg

olivetroad

Posted 8/14/2014 18:36 (#4018513 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

Kingdom of Callaway - Fulton, Mo 65251

I have wondered if you could bale corn with a big square baler and then jam the bales tight together in a pit and cover the whole works?

DVFarms

Posted 8/15/2014 09:34 (#4019580 - in reply to #4017816)
Subject: RE: Corn Silage in a Bale

Northern Kentucky

I did it with my 605M a few years ago best haylage I have ever fed. Cows ate it like candy. Only problem I ran into was it had to be wrapped heaver cause the stalks would push through the wrapper since I used twine. This could be solved one of two ways. Net wrap the hay or wrap in the same direction you bale. I want to say I planted 15' rows and 4 acres made 50 4x5 bales. Its been a few years since I did it. I used a disc mower and raised the guard so it basically laid it over. We also raked the same direction we mowed.

Edited by DVFarms 8/15/2014 09:41

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