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June 15, 2006 Use Annual Forages to Enhance Limited Grazing and Hay Supply Much of North Dakota has received limited rainfall this spring, creating a need for additional forage for haying and grazing. One option for adding forage to your operation is planting an annual forage crop. Deciding what forage to plant becomes your next question. Since planting will occur in mid to late June, warm-season forages remain the primary option for this spring/early summer and include sudangrass, sorghums, pearl millet and foxtail millet. Late summer options for fall grazing include ryegrass and triticale. When selecting a forage type, you must decide when you want to harvest and if you need pasture or hay. Forages recommended as harvested crops only include grasses used for hay, haylage or silage. Grasses proven to perform well in North Dakota are sudangrass, millets, sudan-sorghum hybrids, pearl millet, grain sorghum, grass/intermediate sorghum, oats, barley (forage and grain), triticale and corn. Silage --
If you plan to harvest silage, corn and grain sorghum would be recommended.
However, pearl millet has shown similar tonnage in areas that receive
high moisture. Pearl millet will be lower in total digestible nutrients
(TDN) than corn or sorghum, but higher in crude protein (CP). Hay Production -- When choosing a grass for hay production, remember that millets and sudangrass provide good quality and production. Foxtail millets averaged 2.9 and 2.2 tons per acre dry matter (DM), respectively, at the Carrington and Minot Research Extension Centers during a five-year period. Sudangrass averaged 2.9 tons per acre DM at the Carrington center and 2.4 tons at the Minot center during a five-year period. Both were similar in CP content; however, sudangrass had a TDN of 63 percent compared with 53 percent for the foxtail millets. The foxtail millets and sudangrass provided similar tonnage, while sudangrass provided better quality. Millets are less stemmy, leafier and usually easier to cure. Note, if you plan to graze the hay field after harvest, sudangrass provides better regrowth potential than foxtail millets and is similar to pearl millet. Sudangrass can become high in prussic acid and poisonous to livestock. Pearl and foxtail millets do not contain dhurrin, the glucoside that can create prussic acid (HCN) poisoning. See NDSU publication R-762 for guidelines on grazing sudangrass to minimize prussic acid toxicity. Pasture Option -- Triticale, a wheat hybrid rye with highly productive newer varieties, and annual ryegrass have received much publicity in recent years as pasturage and hay. They are less palatable than oats or barley and need to be grazed in the vegetative stage in fall or spring. Oats and forage barley should be seeded in the spring for pasture or hayland, but triticale and annual ryegrass can be seeded in late summer (August) for fall and subsequent spring pasturage or spring for spring grazing alone. Please note that there always is a risk in planting a forage crop in August due to dry, hot conditions and poor stand establishment. Recent Manitoba research compared triticale, forage barley and oats. Forage barley was superior in production, followed by triticale and oats. However, triticale provided better quality than barley or oats. All three grasses provided 0.5 to 0.75 ton of regrowth after harvesting for hay. Researchers from Kansas State University and Manitoba commented on significant varietal differences within each grain species. Researchers also warned that when incorporating small grains for hay or pasture land, fertilizing is recommended and stand management should be similar to a grain crop. Pearl millet and sudangrass also are recommended for pasture. They provide similar or greater yields than the cereal grains, depending on moisture conditions. Pearl millet is not drought tolerant. Sudangrass and cereal grains perform better in dry conditions, while pearl millet is superior in wet conditions. Sudangrass has a prussic acid concern, while all small-grain grasses have potential high nitrate concerns in stressed conditions. Annual Forages and Crop Insurance -- Annual forages commonly were planted on crop land and eligible for the Preventable Planting (PP) program. This option is still available, but the 2006 program includes up to a 65 percent reduction in the PP payment if a forage crop is established and harvested (grazed or hayed) prior to Nov. 1. If idle acres qualify for PP, visit with your crop insurance agent prior to planting a forage crop for grazing and haying. If a small-grain crop (oats or barley) is planted and fails, visit with your crop insurance agent on loss claims and potential use as a forage crop. Many options exist for annual forage production. To shorten your list of possibilities, determine if your goal is to grow hay, silage or pasture. Available moisture and precipitation will be key to growing a forage crop successfully, especially when seeding pearl millet, corn or sorghum. Annual ryegrass and foxtail millets are good choices in dry conditions. Triticale and winter ryegrass should provide an alternative for fall pasturage in 2006 and spring grazing in 2007. ### Source: Kevin
Sedivec, (701) 231-7647, kevin.sedivec@ndsu.edu |
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North Dakota State University |
