061 Perceptions of crop consultants and producers in Nebraska on grazing corn residue

Corn Residue Use by Livestock in the United States

“…Existing research on soil compaction has generally shown minimal effects by livestock grazing corn residue when following recommended management practices (Clark et al, 2004;Maughan et al, 2009;Shaver et al, 2014). Impacts on grain yield were not considered to be a major factor by Nebraska corn producers (Ulmer et al, 2016), which is in agreement with field research that soybean and corn yields following cattle grazing corn residues are similar to nongrazed treatments (Clark et al, 2004;Drewnoski et al, 2016;Stalker et al, 2015;Wilson et al, 2004).…”

“…The USDA Economic Research Service survey responses to corn residue utilization show similar results to other regional and state-level surveys (Mueller et al, 2012;Ulmer et al, 2016). In a separate 2010 survey, 58% of corn producers (n = 116) in the western Corn Belt (western two-thirds of Nebraska and Kansas) reported using corn residue either through grazing or mechanical harvests, and an estimated 1.4 million ha of corn residue was grazed in the western twothirds of Nebraska (Mueller et al, 2012).…”

“…In a separate 2010 survey, 58% of corn producers (n = 116) in the western Corn Belt (western two-thirds of Nebraska and Kansas) reported using corn residue either through grazing or mechanical harvests, and an estimated 1.4 million ha of corn residue was grazed in the western twothirds of Nebraska (Mueller et al, 2012). A 2015 University of Nebraska survey indicated that 52% of Nebraska corn producers (n = 130) allowed corn residue grazing on their fields, while 37% of respondents primarily cited soil compaction, inconvenience, or a lack of demand as reasons for not allowing corn residue grazing (Ulmer et al, 2016). Existing research on soil compaction has generally shown minimal effects by livestock grazing corn residue when following recommended management practices (Clark et al, 2004;Maughan et al, 2009;Shaver et al, 2014).…”

Assessing the Value of Grazed Corn Residue for Crop and Cattle Producers

“…Using $37.05 ha -1 as the most commonly reported corn residue grazing rental rate for Nebraska (Cox-O'Neill et al, 2017), we estimated the current value of grazed corn residue in Nebraska at greater than $74 million (Table 1) in returns to the crop sector. Rental rates for corn residue grazing in South Dakota, Kansas, and North Dakota were much lower than for Nebraska.…”

“…Total corn residue harvested was greater than 50% in Nebraska, while South Dakota, Kansas, and North Dakota had near 20% utilization of the corn residue (Schmer et al, 2017). A survey of Nebraska farmers indicated that 40% of corn producers currently not grazing corn residue would not consider doing so regardless of potential revenue from the activity (Cox-O'Neill et al, 2017). As such, we estimated that a conservative increase in grazing utilization of 10% of the 6 million ha of corn residue available might add $15 million additional value to the bottom line of crop producers in these four states (Table 1).…”