had that happen to mine last year on a 2 acre piece. We blamed ground hogs. and deer chomping off the leader. Dont now that that's 100% true, but we saw groundhogs destroying corn.
Kinda miserable, but we got dry as soon as the corn was up, so it shot out of the ground, but then flat lined. Never had a chance to really grow up out of reach, and by the time hunting season came along, there wasn't an ear on it. It turned into a corridor for deer to drift thru. Wasn't all bad, but for feeding it didn't work.