The calves will be fed a growing ration of feeds - chopped corn ensilage, ground grains, protein supplements, and vitamins and minerals with a little salt. A silage chopper cuts four rows of corn or forage at a time and can cut, chop, and throw the corn silage into a truck at the rate of three tons per minute. All the machines have to be greased, filled with fuel, and sometimes, something breaks down and needs to be repaired. It means the machine is broken and the field operations are stopped for however long it takes to make repairs and get the machines going again on this important harvest. The rancher often takes his children to the field and they learn about the field operations by watching their elders work on and with the machines.
Corn is planted in rows and the machines follow the rows during harvest.
Sometimes, after a rain or prolonged wet weather, the fields are soft and the loaded trucks have to be pulled through the field. This makes harvest a longer, harder job. The chopped forage is packed by big tractors running over it to push the air out. This will keep the feed from spoiling. Grain for the cattle ration is harvested a bit later in the fall.