Cornstalks do not go through the combine, the ear is stripped off of the stalk.
Here in MN typically you run a stalk shredder (big hammer mill type of shreader) over the field, busting up the stalks into foot or shorter pieces. Rake it into windrows & round bale it. In a good year works well, in a tough year that is the worst job you can have.
There are other options for prepping the stalks for baling - some just rake the field & try to get more husks & leaves than stalks; some balers have chopper heads instead of pickups and you just run through the cornfield, chopping directly into the baler; rotory (batwing) mowers to chop; special choppers with backboards that form a windrow as you chop; even running a hay conditioner over the stalk field; there are special corn heads that cut up the stalks as you combine, only need to rake after; and so on.
Used for bedding & for feed, about equally here in MN. Make good feed for animals that need roughage & not high protien; make cheap bedding if you need lots.
Some feel you remove a lot of nutrients, but it's a big plus if you place the manure back onto the fields you take the stalks off of - cornstalks tie up a lot of N as they decompose, and so you lose fertilizer value for a year after corn - if you haul the stalks back to the field as manure (either eaten or bedding mixed) they will rot down & give up the nutrients right away. Better to feed them or use them for bedding & return to the field in 6-12 months, than to try to decompose them right out in the field!
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Today's Featured Article - A City Guy's First Tractor - by Fred Hambrecht. After living in apartments in Atlanta for more years than I care to remember, the wife and I decided to move to the country. Humming "Green Acres is the place for me..." we purchased a 29 acre tract about 60 miles south of Atlanta. Next came the house, I could talk about that ordeal for another two weeks... But, I want to talk about my tractor! We didn't even own a lawnmower, and all of a sudden we had enough grass to feed all the starving children of the bovine world. Naturally, I talked
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