As I have indicated in the past, various people in the area will let me haul off sweetcorn stalks after they are through pulling the ears they want. I feed these to my cattle.

Has anyone ever tried to feed them to other livestock, such as horses, sheep, goats or rabbits?

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), August 07, 2001

Answers

I fed them to my goats,,,left the biggest part of the stalk and that went in the compost pile! So they did a great job of cleaning them up, howevwer they did enjoy them more while the leaves were still green. ddt

-- ddt (troubled@ftci.net), August 07, 2001.

I use them for rabbits,, my mother used them for horse,, mostly as treats. My rabbits like them all winter,, guess for the sugar

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), August 07, 2001.

I cut down all my stocks as I use the sweet corn. Sometimes if the ears aren't up to standards, I give them along with the husks and cobs once I am done with them to my goats and calf. After they are done with them, there is nothing left. The calf eats the stalks cobs and all thinking it is a rare treat indeed.

-- Ed Holt (goat@sssnet.com), August 08, 2001.

I'm planning on giving mine to the pigs. They like the cobs and husks..why not the stalks and leaves?

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), August 08, 2001.

If animals aren't eating the stalks, would it make a difference if everything was chopped up? May be worth trying.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), August 08, 2001.

Our horses will eat them, even with a field of green grass available.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), August 08, 2001.

Horses ate everything but the roots. Have to be careful not to load them up on them too fast and cause colic, dole them out as supplement to hay, not a replacement.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), August 08, 2001.

I use to run them through my shredder and fedd it too my pigs. I give them to horses now days.

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), August 09, 2001.

Hey stan, do you cut, dry, and store corn stalks in a dry building like they do hay? I never thought about feeding corn stalks to my rabbits, sounds like a good ideal! I always throwed mine in the compost pile.

-- Russell Hays (rhays@sstelco.com), August 09, 2001.

I just tried giving corn stalks to my rabbits for the first time and the little hoppers were in heaven! They went after those stalks like I go after a box of Godiva chocolates! Thanks for the tip!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), August 10, 2001.

May not just be sweetcorn stalks. In my area it is common to plant turnips in the fall. Folks will also let me haul these off after they have what they want, but I have found only a couple of my cows like them and it is a hassle to cut them up into pieces. However, for a homestead hog and a bucket at a time it might be different.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), August 10, 2001.

Another great source of free feed is pumpkins. It seems that the day after Halloween, most places will give them away by the truckload. I've even had folks deliver the things. I keep a cleaver in the barn to chop batches for the goats, and the cows and pigs do well with cutting them in half. I store huge piles in the barn, in hay bale bins to keep them from freezing, and usually have feed well into February

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), August 12, 2001.

Gave mine to the sheep the other day and they went nuts. Loved them. And they are still alive today! I agree that you shouldn't load them up though - might cause digestion distress of some sort.

-- JoAnn in SD (jonehls@excite.com), August 12, 2001.

Connie what a great idea!

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), August 13, 2001.