Corn Question (organic, live, area)

[wehotex]

Iowa is very well known for its corn crops as we all know. Perhaps one of you could answer this question?
In the area where I live, corn is one of the crops. Due to drought conditions, I have noticed that the corn plants are brown with the tops appearing to be chopped off. Yet the base up to about 2 -3 feet of the stalks are still in the ground. Does this 2-3 feet of the stalk have any use at all? Is it used to feed livestock? Or is it of no use and plowed into the ground later? Our sorghum plants don't seem to have this problem, only cotton and corn.

[duster1979]

In a dry year when hay is in short supply - such as last year and, potentially, this year - the stalks are often baled and fed as roughage. Or if a field is fully fenced they sometimes pasture cattle on it after harvest.

Most years they are just plowed under to return the organic matter to the soil.

Now, are you sure the corn you're seeing is this year's corp, or could it be a field that was harvested last year and is fallow this year? Reason I ask is that some combines, specifically newer John Deere models, will strip the ears and leaves and leave the stalk standing in the field, whereas other models knock the stalk down completely. Just curious because it looks kind of like what you're describing.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by duster1979

In a dry year when hay is in short supply - such as last year and, potentially, this year - the stalks are often baled and fed as roughage. Or if a field is fully fenced they sometimes pasture cattle on it after harvest.

Most years they are just plowed under to return the organic matter to the soil.

Now, are you sure the corn you're seeing is this year's corp, or could it be a field that was harvested last year and is fallow this year? Reason I ask is that some combines, specifically newer John Deere models, will strip the ears and leaves and leave the stalk standing in the field, whereas other models knock the stalk down completely. Just curious because it looks kind of like what you're describing.

Thanks. I thought that I saw the sprouts at first, then they grew since we did receive some rainfall down here. But now, they are merely stalks. I don't ever remember seeing them tall with ears of corn on them (nor last year, also a dry year). I'm glad to hear that they are used for either nutrition for the soil or for livestock though.