Is feeding cattle green corn stalks actually toxic?

Every autumn harvest season, after a large amount of agricultural products are harvested, there will always be some residue left behind. For example, after the corn is harvested, the corn stalks are left over, and many people feel it is a waste to throw them away, so they choose to feed cattle with green corn stalks. So is feeding cattle green corn stalks toxic? Farmer friends who are not familiar with this might as well take a look.

1. Is feeding cattle green corn stalks toxic

Feeding cattle a small amount of green corn stalks is not toxic, but if the feeding amount exceeds 30% of the total feed, it will cause poisoning. In mild cases, diarrhea; in severe cases, dehydration, weakness when walking, bloody stools, and even death. So it is best to feed it together with other feeds, or feed it after fermentation or ensiling, so as to effectively avoid poisoning and enhance its palatability.

2. Processing of corn stalk feed

1. Ensiling

This belongs to biological processing technology and is the main way of utilizing corn stalk feed in Shandong Province. This technology is to use a silage harvesting machine to complete the chopping and collection of stalks from corn at the dough stage in one go, or after manual harvesting, chop the green corn stalks to 1 cm~2 cm long, making their moisture content 67%~75%. Then store and seal them in cellars, vats, towers, pits and plastic bags for storage, artificially creating an anaerobic environment. Naturally using lactic acid bacteria for anaerobic fermentation, lactic acid is produced, causing most microorganisms to stop reproducing, while lactic acid bacteria, due to the continuous accumulation of lactic acid, are finally controlled by the lactic acid they themselves produce and stop growing, so as to maintain the nutrition of the green stalks and give the silage a slight fruity aroma, which livestock prefer to eat.

2. Micro-storage

This is also a biological processing method. Cut the corn stalks short, with a length of 5 cm~8 cm for raising cattle and 3 cm~5 cm for raising sheep, while for raising pigs they need to be crushed. This makes them easier to compact and improves the utilization rate of the micro-storage pit and ensures the production quality of the stored material. For the container, a cement pit or earth pit similar to those used for ensiling or ammoniation can be chosen, with a layer of plastic film laid on the bottom and around the sides. For small-batch production, vats, plastic bags, large barrels, etc. can be used. The moisture content of the stalks should be controlled at 60%~70%. Microbial active strains are added to the stalks, so that after fermentation the corn stalks become a feed with a sour, fragrant and alcoholic taste that livestock like to eat. Micro-storage is the method of using microorganisms to degrade the cellulose and hemicellulose in corn stalks and convert them into bacterial protein, and it is also the trend for the future utilization of crude fiber.

3. Yellow storage

This is a method of using microorganisms to process dry corn stalks. Chop the corn stalks to 2 cm~4 cm, put them into a vat, add an appropriate amount of warm water and braise for 2 days. Dry stalks are not favored by livestock and have a low utilization rate. After yellow storage, they are sour, sweet, crisp and soft, and livestock like to eat them, and the utilization rate can be increased to 80%~95%.

4. Block pressing

Use a feed block pressing machine to press the stalks into high-density cakes and blocks, with compression reaching 1:15~1:5, which can greatly reduce transportation and storage space. If used together with drying equipment, fresh corn stalks can be pressed, ensuring that their nutritional components remain unchanged and preventing mildew. There is also compression after adding conversion agents, using the temperature and pressure generated during compression to ammoniate, alkalize and mature the stalks, increasing their crude protein content and digestibility. After processing, the corn stalks become block feed with a cross-section of 30 mm×30 mm and a length of 20 mm~100 mm, with a density of 0.6 t~0.8 t per cubic decimeter, which is convenient for transportation and storage, suitable for the company-plus-farmer model, and low in production cost.

5. Grass powder

Corn stalks are crushed into grass powder, and after fermentation they are fed to cattle and sheep as feed to replace green hay, balancing the surplus and shortage between off-seasons and peak seasons, and the feeding effect is quite good. Any corn stalks that are not moldy and have a moisture content not exceeding 15% can be used as crushing raw material. During production, use a hammer mill to crush the stalks. The grass powder should not be too fine, generally 10 mm~20 mm long and 1 mm~3 mm wide; if too fine, it is not easy for rumination. Mix the well-crushed corn stalk grass powder and legume grass powder at a ratio of 3:1. The entire fermentation time is 1 day~1.5 days. For every 100 liters of well-fermented grass powder, add 0.5 kg~1 kg of bone meal, and mix in 25 kg~30 kg of cornmeal, wheat bran, etc. After thorough mixing, the grass powder fermented mixed feed is made.

The above is the related content compiled by Tuliu.com on whether feeding cattle green corn stalks is toxic. We hope it is helpful to you.