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 - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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