Corn is energy. Corn silage and earlage is the cheapest source of energy for either beef or dairy cattle.” Matthew Lamb has put this belief into practice by raising about 180 acres of corn to be harvested for both silage and earlage on his Webster County farm near Seymour, Mo.
According to Matthew, “Cost savings is the biggest reason we do it. We’ve done the corn silage for several years. Last year we started the earlage.”
He explained the difference in harvesting corn silage and earlage: “For silage, you chop the whole plant at 65 to 70 percent moisture. For earlage, you just pick the ear off and grind it in the chopper at 25 to 35 percent moisture.”
The Lamb dairy is currently milking about 90 cows, with all feed except a protein supplement grown right on the farm. The corn crop, a joint venture between Matthew and two neighboring dairymen, is entirely used for feed for the three dairies rather than being sold.
For farmers who might be interested in producing their own feed, Matthew offered the following considerations.
Costs:
“I don’t buy the highest seed corn, but I don’t buy the cheapest. I’m already looking at a 7 to 10 percent increase in the cost of the seed corn next year. We had a 7 percent increase this past year. I gave $150 a bag last year. A bag will plant just under 3 acres. We run 150 gallons of fuel a day for the chopper. That’s just in the chopper, not all the rest of the equipment. We do insure our crops. That’s another expense, but I think it’s well worth it. By the time you plant it and harvest it, your fuel, land values, taxes and depreciations, you’re talking about $300 an acre. Your cost per acre will remain about the same regardless of what type of chopper you run.”
Land Requirements:
“The Pioneer (his preferred seed corn) representative tells me everything is corn ground today. It will grow anywhere if you have moisture.” Matthew, however, does not discount the value of good land. “We’re just blessed to have wonderful ground to work with. That’s why we can do what we do. You can grow corn anywhere today, but it helps to have good ground.”
Equipment:
“You have to have a tractor to work the ground. We have our own sprayer. We have enough acres to justify owning our own self-propelled machine versus having a custom chopper come in to harvest. My neighbor and I paid for this chopper last year, between the two of us. It’s 300-horsepower and chops six rows at a time. During harvest, we also have two tractors and at least four trucks going.”
Time Factor:
“You’re spending the first part of March getting the ground ready. This year, because of all the rain, I had to spray some fields twice. Right after planting, you go back and put down a pre-emergent herbicide. Just before canopy, we go back over it with Round-Up. You probably have about a two-week window to harvest corn at the right moisture. You’re involved with the crop about six months out of the year. There is no way a person could do this and also work off the farm. We have a hard time getting it all done the way it is.”
Hiring Custom Crews vs. Owning Equipment:
“You can hire custom spraying done, but that’s gotten cost-prohibitive, too. Getting custom crews there when you need them may also be a problem. When the custom chopper has a thousand acres to do, you may be last and you may be first. If you’re first, it may be too wet and if you’re last it’s too dry. It’s something you have to consider. It did cost $6 per ton for the custom chopper. Now I think it’s gone to $7 per ton. When you’re talking 15-20 ton per acre, that adds up to dollars fast. If you have about 100 acres, you could justify owning your own machine.”
Growing vs. Buying Feed:
“The earlage has made such a difference in the performance of the cows. Butterfat has increased dramatically because of the earlage. Just the cost savings in the feed has been dramatic. With corn almost $7 per bushel, it’s a tremendous savings, even with the higher cost of fertilizer and fuel. If you feed half a bushel per day per cow, that’s a pretty big cost.”
