Alternative Feeds
Drought has many ranchers looking for alternative forages.
After this year’s drought, many ranchers are looking at alternative forages for winter feed. Glenn Nader, University of California Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources advisor for three counties, says this year there is a lot of demand for rice straw and cornstalks. With the increase in ethanol plants, more corn is being grown, so stalks are sometimes an option.
“In the past, farmers here just tilled them under, but in the Midwest people have been grazing dry cows on cornstalks for a long time,” he says. Now western ranchers are looking at hauling baled cornstalks from nearby farming regions.
The problem with this feed is that it’s expensive to haul very far for the nutrient value you get, and care must be taken in feeding the big bales to minimize waste. “Here in California, farmers are used to putting bales of rice straw out on range pasture and cut all but three twines — and the bales still hold together. But when people try that with cornstalks, the bales fall apart and cattle waste a lot,” he says.
“You must put them in big-bale feeders, and may have to pitch the bigger stalks out that the cattle won’t clean up,” Nader says. “Some of the twin-cylinder harvesters do a better job of breaking up stalks during the threshing process; the corn stover from that process is better than from the older-design harvester.”
He warns producers feeding corn stover to have it tested and check nitrate levels.
“Cornstalks have a little higher nutrient level than rice straw — about 5.9% protein. Cornstalks have an ADF (acid detergent fiber) comparable to rice straw, but about 50 to 51 on average. It’s a little better feed, but you need to have a better handle on it to feed it. Like rice straw, the faster you can bale it after harvest, the better it is; the more times it gets rained on, the more quality is leached out of it,” Nader says.
“Another problem here is that when baling it, the baler may pick up a lot of dirt. Look at the bales before you buy them and make sure you are not paying for a lot of dirt. Some ranchers in Nevada are hauling in cornstalks from southern Idaho, but with the freight, this is very expensive. They still feel it’s an option, however, because the price of alfalfa hay has gone through the roof,” he says.
