Spring Harvest of Corn Stover for Animal Bedding with a Self-Loading Wagon

Abstract

During a two-year experiment, 148.4 t wet matter (WM) or 134.0 t dry matter (DM) of corn stover (average 9.7% moisture content, MC) were harvested in the spring over an area of 97 ha. The grain had been harvested in the previous fall as kernel-cob silage (“snaplage”). The remaining stover available for harvest was estimated at 3.89 and 4.38 t DM ha-1 in spring 2010 and 2011, respectively. After stover was cut, shredded, and windrowed in a single operation, windrows were harvested with a 1.5-m diameter × 1.2-m width round baler or a 66-m3 self-loading wagon (SLW) in 2010 and a 100-m3 SLW in 2011. The baler collected 1.44 t DM ha-1 at 8.0% MC; the collection efficiency was 36% with respect to stover yields available in the spring. Bales weighed 191 kg DM with an average density of 90 kg DM m-3. The SLW collected 1.85 t DM ha-1 at 6.8% MC in 2010 and 1.31 t DM ha-1 at 10.8% MC in 2011; collection efficiencies were 57% and 30%, respectively. Bulk densities were 43.2 and 49.0 kg DM m-3 in the 66 and 100 m³ SLW, respectively. The shredder, baler, and SLW were operated in the field at average speeds of 12.3, 5.0, and 10.9 km h-1, respectively. The effective field capacities of the shredder and baler were 5.1 and 3.8 ha h-1, respectively, while the capacity of the SLW was variable due to the travel distance from the field to the storage site. The pickup configuration of the SLW allowed good collection efficiency and high field speed. Corn stover presented superior absorbency values (2.8 on average) for animal bedding when compared to saw dust (2.1) and wood shavings (1.8).