When Iowa has a shortage of hay because the drought slowed the growth for hay, cornstalks are baled up for feed. Also some years the farmers just plant beans and corn and the amount of hay fields are minimal again the farmers bale up the cornstalks.
This farmer of my neighbors farm land probably thinks he can get a little bit more profit from this field as the yield was 30 percent less. These bales don't sell for as much as an alfalfa bale but whatever they can receive for it will increase their profit.
Cows really don''t like it as a feed that much but they will eat it if that is all that is being supplied. One farmer friend told me that his cattle really stopped eating for a while until they got hungry enough to eat cornstalks. The bales also are used for bedding for livestock and can be sold for that too.
I counted 14 bales in the field from this 13 acre farm field. The man baled these cornstalks in the dark on Friday night. I was over helping to take care of a neighbor dog and he was out there working with the lights of his tractor pulling his baler behind him, dropping bales like a hen lays an egg.
5 comments:
Nice shots, Larry. Also, a reminder that farmers don't have it as easy as some people would believe.
Very interesting and great pics.
It really makes you realise that life can be very tough for farmers. Awkward weather is not just a nuisance but hits at their livelihood. I wonder how nutritious cornstalks are for cattle though...? Better than nothing, I suppose.
That farmer is making good use of everything.. I have seen it baled up here too..The first time I saw a cornstalk bale I could hardly believe it:)
This is the first that I've been aware of corn stalks being baled. I can understand why cattle might prefer eating something else.
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