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Alberta, Canada | Well we're only barely halfway through 2008 and I'm already planning the 2009 edition of Josh's Mad Silaging Experiment. Ok, not exactly, just had an idea pass me by, and I got to wondering how logical it would be.
Would a guy be able to cut the corn with a rotary hay head / pull-type discbine? And then bale it with a big square baler(non cutter)?
With my climate, guys here are lucky to get corn 6 feet tall, but it still yields much better than a hay field. The only guys doing it in my area are a few of the larger dairy farmers, and they're chopping it all with a forage harvester.
I've cut down extremely thick grass that was nearly 6 feet tall with no problems, not sure how the corn would go. I know I'd have to open my rollers right up.
While cutting in these pics I was averaging 11mph with no problems:
I then twin-rakes the swaths and baled that with a Hesston 3x4 big square baler, again, no issues.
Even if I could get it cut, and baled, how well would the silage turn out? It'd be chopped before feeding, but not before being ensiled.
Thought I might see about seeding 20 acres of it when we work down one of our pastures, would mostly let graze it themselves over the winter (I read an article a farmer 30minutes away that does this), but try to make a few passes with the cutter/baler to see how it went. If it went well, would perhaps seed a bigger field for 2010.
This gives an idea of the way the corn turns out here, these pictures were taken about an hour North West of me:
http://www.farmphoto.com/fpv2/thread.aspx?mid=480467#480467
Your thoughts? | |
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Corn silage? In bales? Impossible?
