They always say if you don’t like the weather in Ohio just wait a few hours and it will change. Unfortunately, we may have to wait more than a few hours for the weather to change and bring rain, but it will. Unfortunately, when this rain does come it maybe to late to grow more pasture forage for your livestock without causing even more long-term damage to your pastures. If you have crop land especially corn silage, early soybeans, or even pasture that could use renovations now is the time to find seed and be optimistic for rain sometime this fall. Your decisions on the possible forage crop to plant will depend on when the rains finally come, and the timing of your forages needs. These forages can be planted as single species or as a mix. However, a mix may reduce yield especially since moisture will be lacking for a while even when it does finally rain.
Oats
The first option for fall forage is spring oats or winter oats. These are both oats, but they are not the same. Spring oats is our most common type of oats that we have successfully used as a forage crop planted in the late summer, but we have planted oats through mid-September in Fremont Ohio with yields of almost three quarters of a ton dry matter per acre. These yields may not be enough to mechanically harvest but can be successfully grazed. 2021 oats planted September 1st yielded .5 tons/ac DM when 46 pounds/acre of nitrogen was applied at planting and .69 tons/ac of DM when 92 pounds/acre of nitrogen was applied. In 2022 Oats was planted again on September 1stwith an additional planting on September 15th. Yield data from this trial is below (table 1), both planting dates were harvested on November 17th before a 4 day cold spell that would have killed the spring oats.
Table 1. September 1st (D) and 15th (E) 2022 planted oats at the North Central research station in Fremont Ohio. The letter represents the planting date and the number of the pounds/acre of Nitrogen applied as urea at planting.
The September 1st planting growing degree days total was 669 while the September 15th planting had a total of 403 growing degree days. Each year is different, but the first of October is the latest you would want to plant spring oats for grazing forage, however black oats or winter oats could possibly be planted through mid-October for forage. Winter oats will germinate with temperatures as low as 38°F but will germinate and grow faster with warmer temperatures. Winter oats survive until temperatures are at or below 14°F for multiple hours while spring oats winter kill after a couple hours of temperatures at or below 20°F. Both types of oats should be planted at 100-120 pounds per acre to maximize yield.
Winter Annual Cereal Grains
Winter annual cereal grains allow for 2 possible grazing periods and increase the chance of your forage getting the necessary rains to grow. All of these follow similar grazing rules that you want at least 5 to 8 inches of winter growth before grazing in the fall and then allow to regrow in the spring with a goal of keeping the crop less than 10 inches in the spring for the highest quality forage. Cereal Rye is the hardiest of these options that continues to grow in the winter on warm day. Cereal rye will germinate when soil temperature is as low as 33°F and grows any time temperatures are above 38°F allowing for the greatest possibility of over winter growth.
Winter wheat is also a common choice but usually has less winter tonnage and slower spring growth than cereal rye. Wheat truly goes above ground dormant in the winter only growing roots anytime when temperatures are above freezing. Wheat takes 4-6 weeks of temperature at or below 50°F at the soil surface/crown for the wheat to become winter hardy. Once wheat goes dormant for the winter it takes approximately 14 days of temperatures above 41°F to break dormancy and begin to grow again. Wheat can be grazed while it is dormant but if you want spring growth over grazing can increase crown damage and decrease spring regrowth.
Triticale is another option that grows more tonnage than wheat but matures slower than cereal rye. As a genetic cross between the two it brings the cold hardiest of rye with the higher feed quality wheat. It will germinate when soil temperatures are at 38°F and grows very slow when temperatures are above 38°F.
For all of these winter annual cereal crops seeding rates should be between 2-2.5 bushels per acre. While these crops can germinate on the soil surface having good seed to soil contact will greatly improve germination and your success. Seeding depths should be between ¾-1 ½ inches deep “into the moisture” when possible. Most of these crops require soil moisture to be at 34% for the crop to germinate. One of the greatest risks is a crop that gets just enough moisture to germinate but not enough to grow, deeper seeding depths can assist with this issue. Cereal rye and triticale generally have more fall growth than winter wheat but there is about 1100 pounds of grazeable dry matter per acre for fall/winter grazing from a winter wheat crop and additional spring green up grazing.
Nitrogen fertilization is critical with these crops to maximize tonnage. Winter of 23-24 we conducted research project at the North Central Research Station in Fremont Ohio with cereal rye looking at fall nitrogen rates and plant growth. From this project we found that the amount of ground cover increased when 30 pounds/acre of nitrogen was applied compared to no nitrogen, but 60 pounds/ace of fall nitrogen did not increase fall growth. This cereal rye was planted the first of October with ground cover readings being taken at the end of November. However, when 60 pounds/acre of nitrogen was applied the amount of ground cover increased by 10 percent in the spring compared to the 30 pounds/acre of nitrogen treatment. We did not test the forage quality at this growth stage, but 60 pounds/acre of fall nitrogen may create high nitrate forages. In the spring we applied additional nitrogen to this crop. Our yield and quality were maximized when at least 30 pounds/acre of fall nitrogen was applied and 100 pounds/acre of spring nitrogen. However, we were also able to maximize tonnage with 90 pounds/acre of fall nitrogen and 30 pounds/acre of spring nitrogen. Spring nitrogen was critical to maximizing spring harvested forage crude protein. Our crude protein was maximized when our spring nitrogen rate was 75 pounds/acre per acre.
One additional crop that can be incorporated when these crops are used for grazing is winter turnips. Livestock will eat both the tops and the turnip bulbs. Depending on the variety turnips top will survive until temperatures fall below 15°F and with bulbs often staying firm through temperatures as low as 0°F. Turnips can assist with soil compaction remediation and provide livestock with a very digestible forage source. Seeding rates are usually 1-3 pounds per acre with lower rates preferred for most forage mixes.
Besides these forages, in future weeks we will be discussion alternative feeding strategies such as limiting feeding and using straw or corn stalks along with wet brewers grain or wet distillers grains to feed cattle while using other alternative to meet your bedding needs.
