cost of corn...

[bluere11e]

Here in South Florida.. It's wet more than it's dry in the summer. We can't store much of anything..It just molds.. I can't afford a hermetically vacuumed sealed room.. lol
So, I try to grow as much as I can for my birds and it helps trim my over all feed costs. Ryegrass and winter wheat for greens in the winter and black oil sunflowers, brown topped millet and oats/wheat in the summer

 

[Bossroo]

Here in Cal, we have a month of solid fog in the winter time. We actually have condensation " rain" falling from the metal roof of the barn to the floor inside the barn. Yet, with the lid raised and the screen securely in place, we have very minute if any at all mold loses. I also cover our alfalfa hay bales with black plastic as well as I stack the bales on top of wood pallets to prevent this "rain" from falling onto the hay and mold from growing. I stack the bales to have about 2+" of space between all bales for air circulation. Air circulation Over, under, around and through = no mold. A side benefit is that the cats can then get between the cans and bales to catch mice, rats,etc.

 

[jmc]

i may not have studied your op enough, bob...............

something we all need to consider: we may be okay if we stockpile--for a little while. but what happens when the stash runs out and the corn is then 4x what it is now, and gas prices 6 a gal. or something. this is not farfetched.

it is not just that 'corn' is getting more pricey, but all else is just fine. EVERYTHING is affected. Shipping the corn and feed will become very pricey in itself, let alone the feed and corn prices.

Corn is fed to so many things, also! So all that stuff will cost more. And maybe the corn we can stockpile will be gmo corn....................

Food riots in Algeria, Tunisia, and i think Jordan. The Jordanian ones were quelled just because the govt. said. 'ok, ok, we'll let you have some free food..........'

no one is buying stocks, i have heard from reliable (that is, NON MASS MEDIA) sources. the fed is buying all the stocks, so we're told the market is doing well.

Everything is gonna be affected, as it already is, and i do not think that it is just gonna just all clear up in a couple years. Forget the mass media, there are hosts of reliable sources (Pat Buchanan has referred to many) who agree over the world that we may yet have the big FALLS to go over.

43 milliion people in the usa are on food stamps now. leaving aside the ones ashamed to use them....................

calll me a pessimist, but all is not well--globally. and bob, this thread of yours brings it closer to home--hopefully--to many on this board.

It aint just 'corn' it is everything and globally. it just hasn't come roaring into our country yet...................yet...............

weimar republic anyone? we have a bunch of worthless money, and that fact too is gonna burst on us in time...........and maybe not a LONG time either................

so let's hug our chickens. they may be getting very valuable; and let's remember to try and hug one another, cuz we need each other.

fyi:https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=444004
NOTE that in my last post, i modified what i said in the opening post




My signature says it all................

 

[sjh]

Quote:
That is not true. Any ground animal feed has a shelf life and it is way less then a year. Remember you said feed not whole grains.

 

[wolftracks]

So for those of us with not much space to grow enough corn of our own, what are some suggestions that can be feed instead?

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Corn goes in cycles, it will drop next harvest. You gotta figure every corner of the world will be planted in corn this summer.... there will be a bigger surplus this fall than current. As of now, we are facing the lowest surplus in 15 years, which is why it's so high. You have to think, it's not because of gas.... gas was higher this time last year and even before that it hit $4.00 / gallon in Ohio.

This is why you have to put money away if you're in the business, roll with the bad times save with the good.

I feel bad for dairies right now, the only option for them is loans.... unless they grow their own they are screwed. Had a dairy about an hour from me lose $350,000 / month due to low milk prices a few years ago.

Raise more lamb and goats.... grass fed / finished... meat may not be that great but it's a lot cheaper than what corn is.

REALLY sucks for me feeding 30 pigs right now with high corn prices, I'm losing my butt right now. $14.00 / hundred... that's ground and milled.

O-well... life will go on.

 

[ourflockof4]

All commodity prices are somewhat cyclical, whether that be corn, oil, or gold. It is one's best guess as whether corn prices will drop, stay at the level they currently are, or climb ever further. I, personally, don't think that we will ever see corn for under $5-6 a bu again. The total acres of farm land keep dropping every year while the world population keeps rising. We can only do som much to increase our field yeild, and our increase yeilds are not keeping up with the population gain right now.

Any ground feed does have a shelf life, but that varies greatly depending on how you store it. Shelled, or ear corn will last for over a year if stored properly, but everything will lose some nutritional value the longer it sits, but I don't have hose values for how much.

Even if you do raise your own corn you will still need to either buy the other items that go into feed, or raise them yourself also. Then you have the whole issue that if corn prices are high you know that the main seed producers are also going to raise their seed prices, and the fertalizer companys are going to rainse their prices also. There may be a solution for us chicken people though. You could raise open pollinated corn, and just hold back your seed for the following year. Since corn takes a lot of nitrogen out of the soil, and chicken poo if high in N your may be able to fertalize your field with your chickens......

 

[Katy]

Yes grain prices are cyclical.....a couple of years ago we were getting even better prices for our grains than now.....but our input costs always follow any price increase up too. Supply and demand changes every year depending on a lot of things...weather here and in other countries, amount of acres planted, etc. The one thing that consistantly is changing is the amount of land that is being farmed......it keeps decreasing because of urban sprawl and every farm that is sold off in parcels to be developed. Those acres are forever lost to farming so over time that will have a sustained effect on grain prices.

I feel like the main issue with someone trying to raise their own feed is if that person has no experience with farming they don't realize how much area it's going to take to do that. If you only have a very few hens it certainly would be possible to raise a portion of their feed, but I think it would be very hard to raise all the grain you would need. I'm a grain farmer and I don't even raise all my own feed. Storage would be another issue for most people.

 

[ourflockof4]

Just a little insight though for those of you who's wheels are turning about raising your own corn now. It may not be as easy as you think. If you are thinking of a 10'x10' plot it may be, but then honestly your feed savings probably won't be worth the effort. We are planning on adding hogs and cattle to our farm, so I am planning on 1 ac of corn. My main issue may be crop rotation though. I could do limited planting in the pasture but since I'm putting 10 ac to hay this spring that area will be off limits for rotaion for several years.....I haven't looked into supplimental soil requirements for reseeding with corn yet....

If you plan on doing this though, and do not want to buy seed every year you will need to get an open pollinating, or heritage variety of corn. If you try it with hybrid, commercial seed stock your yeild will continue to fall every year. The commercial stuff is treated with all kinds of happy chemicals to help it grow better though so if your don't mind buying seed every year you will get better yeilds. On the point of yeilds, OP corn will not usually yeild as high as hybrid will. That all varies widely though depending on soil types in your area. Some areas may yeild the same, and some may only yeild half, or less.......The corn that you keep back for next years seed stock also must be handled more carefully, and dried properly. Care must also be taken to sort and size your seed stock to have a uniform seed.......

edit ot add....

As Katy said, it may not be worth it depending on your situation. If you raise several hundred chicken per year you will need a lot of land to raise your feed. Corn in my area usually yeilds about 150-175 bu/ac for hybrid. So if I can get 100-125 with OP corn I will get about 4 ton of corn wich when mixed with a concentrated feed mix would get me about 5 ton of feed. That much feed would feed out about 500 chickens, or 14 hogs. You also can't feed chickens just whole grain corn. You will need to grind it and then mix it, wich means either paying someone else to do it or buying the equipments to do it yourself. You also need to figure in the time, money, and equipment to plant, fertilize, maintain, harvest, and haul your grain.

There is a cost/burden anylisis that must be done to see if it makes sense or not. Some people may be able to make the numbers work, but some may not. There is also an in between for poeple who raise a lot of animals (like Brunty for example) They could spend the money on a feed mixer/grinder, buy feed concentrate, and buy corn from a local farmer either "in the field" at harvest time, or under contract by the year. A few thousand dollars (or hundred if your carefull) in investments may be able to save you thousands per year in feed cost.

 

[Country Parson]

Quote:
True, but you could rotate between buying new hybrid seed and reusing 2nd generation seed. That's what I do. This year I'm using 2nd generation seed, which has (for me) still out performed OP/Heritage seed. Hybrid seed corn is very expensive ($300 bushel, or so). Of course, a bushel will plant 2.5-3 acres so it does go a long way (and its yield is amazing). Since I don't plant nearly that much I usually buy a little off a neighbor. I save some seed and plant from this, and then go back to seed corn every other year. I've not tried to go a 3rd generation yet (but it would be a neat experiment).

Most of us probably would be unable to completely grow our own feed, as we lack the space and time requirements (especially if we forgo the modern, and expensive, equipment). But I will be making a dent in the field bill this year. I'm growing Amaranth, oats, sunflowers, buckwheat, and barley. Also a huge patch of mangels and rutabagas. I'll be harvesting the grains by hand. I have no idea what percentage of my feed I will be growing, but my target is 25% (I don't think I'll make that target this year, but it depends on yield). I usually get 3-5 bushels of free corn each year from a local hog farmer. I get all the corn that gets spilled on the ground, as its mixed with stones (which he can't feed to the pigs). Add to this the food scraps, and we are making a nice dent in the feed bill.