Field of Dreams...AFTER



Nate delivering posts around the perimeter of the field

If you're keeping up, you would have read yesterday's post about last fall's harvest in southwest Nebraska.  If you missed it, you can catch it here! 

As I was explaining in that post, the leftover cornstalks, leaves, and bits of corn make an awesome spot for our cows to get some winter forage but there's one little problem... FENCE!



Most of the corn fields are not surrounded by permanent fence as it creates difficulty getting equipment around.  Like lots of other cattlemen in the area, we are responsible for building a temporary fence that's economical, quick to put up and take down, and most importantly, secure enough to keep the cattle in a safe place. 

Ally attaching insulators to hold the wire.

The first step in a successful fencing project is the right supplies and a great crew.  Like most cattle producers, we use a simple, temporary single wire fence that is electrified.  It's amazing how the cattle know to stay away from it.  It doesn't hurt them (or us for that matter) if they touch it but it's enough of a deterrent that you don't do it again anytime soon!   

Nate is adding the wire to the insulators.

We put in temporary metal posts, attach insulators to hold the wire, and then run a metal wire around the outside of the field.  It's a team effort and it goes pretty fast when everyone pitches in.  This year the ground wasn't frozen yet and the weather was awesome so it wasn't too tough.  We've had other years when the ground is so dry or frozen that you can hardly pound a post in and the weather is less than cooperative. 

 

 

 A word of caution when you live in a small town and build fence on the highway... you get a lot of "honks" and visitors who stop to chat!  It's always fun to see who will stop in and offer to lend a hand! (Or just watch us work in most cases!!)

 

At the end of the day, we make sure the fence is electrified all the way around and usually leave it for several days so the deer learn that it's there.  They will knock it down for a few days but eventually they learn to jump over it.  Once this happens, the cows can be turned out to the Field of Dreams.  As long as the weather is kind, this is a great spot for them to do some late fall / early winter grazing until they come home for calving!

Happy cows in their "Field of Dreams"

 

Field of Dreams... BEFORE

It seems like I post about this every year (or at least take a lot of pictures with good intentions) but there's just something about the transformation of a corn field that's ready for harvest turning into a grazing wonderland for cows.  This post is about corn harvest that took place last fall and how it affected our cows!! For my Ag-in-the-Classroom kids, here are a few facts about farmground:

• Nationally, farmers average 160 bushels per acre.  It will be higher in areas of larger rainfall or irrigation and lower in areas with poor soil quality or dry growing conditions.
• An acre is about the size of a football field minus the end-zones.
• A bushel of corn weighs about 56 pounds.
• A semi truck can haul about 55,000 lbs of corn in a load
• Here's a story problem for you kids out there...  The farmer that I rent from has a 100 acre field.  He harvested 160 bu per acre. How many semi loads of corn did he haul out of the field?

The answer is....16 semi loads! (100 acres x 160 bu/acre x 56 lbs per bu) divided by 55,000 lbs per truck = 16.2 semi loads!  That's a lot of corn from one small field!  Some fields are hundreds of acres so you can imagine how much those make!

Check out this video I made while my son was riding with the neighbor in his combine!

So what happens once the corn is harvested??  Well, that's where we come in.  The field is left with lots of stalks & leaves off the corn plant as well as a little corn that might have been missed or left behind.  This makes perfect winter grazing material for our cows!  Think about the timing for a minute... corn harvest is usually in early fall when the grass is starting to go dormant in the pastures.  The cows are ready to move on to other forage sources and it's best for the pastures to move the cattle off and let the grass recover and be ready for next spring.  Mother Nature has perfect timing as this is when the corn fields are ready for grazing. 

There's just one little problem... FENCE.  Come back tomorrow to learn how we tackle this little problem and get our cows out to their Field of Dreams!!