Growing corn for feed

[trainman]

I had the thought that I have a pretty big section of my garden I don't seem to use and maybe if I planted corn for the flock it could help with the feed bill. Has anyone grown their own corn? How do you harvest and prepare it for use? Would it be best to build a corn crib or leave it on the plant to dry? Grind the entire ear including the cobs? I haven't seen anything much on this subject but in the old days most farms had a corn crib so I assume that's what was done.
Thanks for any ideas or help here.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You will need to plant quite a bit to make a difference. Generally you will get 2-3 ears from each plant. Without the proper equipment harvesting is fairly labor intensive. Most poultry can't eat cob corn, so you will need to shell the corn, and either feed it whole or grind it.

Corn is only about 8% protein, so you will need to feed a higher protein ration, or add higher protein things into your mix.

Considering whole corn runs around 8 dollars for fifty pounds here, it's easier for us to just buy it here.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Back in the sixties in NW Arkansas there were still a few families using mules for farming. Every farm had a feed patch, usually corn, to feed the mules and horses, usually five to ten acres. A great ant and uncle on my mom's side farmed like this. A miserable existence but it was all they knew.

Without the proper equipment to plant, till, and harvest you would be doing sub minimum wage work. Far better use of your time to get a part time job or a side hustle, earn the cash, and buy the feed and stockpile plenty. These are interesting times, no one knows what is going to happen later this year but it would pay to be ready.