Noah Taylor wanted to do something different.
“I wanted to get a leg up on just raising corn and soybeans, something that would give us extra margin” says the Bouton, Iowa, farmer.
That “something” is planting corn in 60-inch rows and grazing cows on an interseeded cover crop mix following harvest. When fencing permits, he’s grazed cattle on cover crops and corn stover until freeze-up or snowstorms occur. Until then, Taylor’s cattle graze the cover crop mix of brassicas, legumes and grasses balanced with corn stover. The rows — double the width of conventional 30-inch spacings — permit more sunlight to penetrate the canopy and spur cover crop growth.
“We have the cows, and we need the feed,” Taylor says. “It makes a really nice cow ration.” The manure from grazing also helps boost fertility and nutrient cycling, he adds.
Bovine banquet
Corn planted in 60-inch rows is gaining the most acceptance from livestock producers, says Bob Recker, a consultant with Cedar Valley Innovation, Waterloo, Iowa. “When cattle come in, it’s like a big bovine banquet,” he says. “They love it, feasting on all the different [cover crop] species.”
A 2021 Practical Farmers of Iowa trial showed nearly five times as much cover crop biomass for grazing resulted in 60-inch row spacings (2,113 pounds per acre), compared to levels found in 30-inch row spacings (432 pounds per acre.) The 60-inch spacing biomass is similar to levels previous cooperators in PFI trials achieved.
PROLIFIC FORAGES: Additional sunlight making its way into the canopy through 60-inch corn rows spurs a mix of cover crops.
Grazing perked Wendy Johnson’s interest when she met Recker at a field day where he spoke about wide-row corn and the resulting “opportunity space.” This is the term Recker uses to refer to the area between 60-inch rows that can spawn such enterprises as livestock grazing.
“I have cattle and sheep, so we started working together on trials with this system,” says the Charles City, Iowa, farmer. “We picked a nine-way mix consisting of warm-season annuals, legumes and brassicas such as kale that grazing animals love.”
Besides grazing cattle, Johnson’s plans include grazing sheep in-season and cattle after harvest. Under such a strategy, sheep can graze cover crops in-season, as they cannot reach corn ears and trample down corn.
John Maxwell, a partner with Maxwell United in Maxwell, Iowa, started grazing the farm’s cattle on cover crops in 60-inch twin rows in 2023.
“Yields are normally about 20 bushels off of what our neighboring 30-inch cornfields are,” he says. However, he adds grazing cows on cover crops and corn stover after harvest helps eliminate some of that yield sting.
“Plus, we don’t have to add any commercial P (phosphorus) and K (potassium) on those fields,” he says.
“Livestock fits the synergy of wide rows, sunlight and the right cover crop mix,” adds Recker.
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