Anybody ever bail green cornstalks?

I was wondering if anybody ever bailed green cornstalks, beings that this years corn crop is not promising I was thinking about bailing some cornstalks because I don't have the equipment to cut seilege and wouldn't be able to get a custom cutter in for a good awhile. I was wondering if anybody had done this how they went about it and how they think it worked. Thanks

If you baled them green I would imagine it would be just like baling wet hay.  You could cut and let dry and then bale, but baling wet seem dangerous because of combustion and poor fermentation on the edges and all the problems that go with it.  If I were you I would try to keep looking for a cutter.

the nitrates in the stalk is the biggest concern.. especially when it comes to baling them, b/c otherwise you can leave as much as the bottom 1/3 of the stalk in the field to avoid about 80% of the nitrate issues.  The bottom foot, will get over half of them taken out.

In any way you want to harvest the corn, you need to make sure it gets insiloed, whether in hay, silo, or a bag.  This process will leach most of hte nitrates out, and if you mix it with some other feed source, then you'll have much less to worry about.  If I were in your shoes, I'd be searching for a silage bagger to come and custom do the work. 

The stalks if ran through a conditioner, are porous enough to dry out fairly quick,  and as coarse as the stalks are it is hard to pack them tight enough in a round bale to have a heat problem.  Sq bale similar but they will dry out after baling and bales get loose. The amount of leaf is the deciding part.  If the leaves are dried out, they do not cause much of a heat problem,
 If round baled,  leave them stacked with a little space between them,  they,n get loose when they dry out.

knabe said:

http://www.bcsalering.com/showthread.php?t=3777

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I talked to a friend in Iowa recently and he said the same thing about the nitrate levels.  Knabe's link is a great source of information.  I applaud having included it in this thread.  And we sometimes forget that our county extension agents are also a good source of information that would be relevant to our area, weather, etc.
<cowboy>

I wouldn't do it because of the nitrate levels because of the drought but if you were to feed Illinois University said to feed it with diluted grain.

I can't remember this for sure so by all means ck into it, but if I remember right, I think that if you let the bales sit for a period of time that the nitrate levels go down to a safe level, but again ck with a person that knows for sure or test. Corn is a "grass".

You can send samples to test for nitrates, I wouldn't let that much roughage go to waste in these dry times if you can help it.

I think nitrates will come down.......but you are talking two years for a bale to come down......I don't know why but I have seen it happen.

Has anyone tried round baling corn wet corn stalks and using a bale wrapper on them instead of bagging? Just curious. I heard some people might try that in WI, but I don't know quite what to think of it.

BLSC said:

Has anyone tried round baling corn wet corn stalks and using a bale wrapper on them instead of bagging? Just curious. I heard some people might try that in WI, but I don't know quite what to think of it.

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It has been done, I would recommend a crop chopper on the baler (and sharpen the knives first).  Think the process is cut with mower, let it sit a day ish to dry down a bit, then bale and wrap.  Guys seem to say it works well.