The past six to nine months have been brutal for perennial forage production, from drought conditions that have damaged pastures and hay fields to winter annuals that look much browner than we are used to. These crops should start to green up soon.
Furthermore, the colder-than-normal winter weather conditions left livestock needing more energy, so they ate more hay than usual. Some drought-damaged pastures may need remediation measures this year. All of these factors may lead to a need for early spring-seeded forage.
It definitely feels like spring is here, and it is time to think about planting as the sun shines and my thermometer has risen to 63 degrees Fahrenheit today. While it might still be a little early in northern Ohio for spring planting, for the southern part of the state, we can start planting spring-summer annuals soon. These forages can provide high-quality feed for livestock, improve soil health and enhance pasture productivity by allowing reseeded pastures to rest.
Planting of spring annuals can begin once soil temperatures at seeding depths are between 42 to 45 degrees F. While oats are the most common cereal grain to plant in the spring, other spring cereals such as spring wheat, spring barley and spring triticale can be options for both baleage or grazing.
Planting
When selecting which cereal grain to plant, variety selection within species is more critical than species for harvest timing and forage quality. Varieties bred for forage production will out-yield grain varieties and produce a higher quality forage. Oats are the most common crop, with forage oats usually having leaves that are twice as wide as seed oats. When comparing varieties, be sure to consider maturity, usually listed as early, medium and late, which can often lead to more than a two-week spread in how fast the oats will reach the boot stage.
If harvesting for stored forage and planting another crop afterward, you might want to consider an early maturing variety, but for grazing, a later maturing but fast-growing variety might be your best option. Oats should be planted at 80 to 110 pounds per acre, while species should be planted at 100 to 120 pounds per acre. As long as moisture is in the seeding zone, these crops should be planted between half and three-quarters of an inch deep. However, if the topsoil is dry, they can be planted up to one and a half inches deep.
Deeper planting depths slow emergence and often have cooler soil temperatures early in the season but can improve stands under dry conditions. At planting, 50 to 70 pounds of nitrogen should be applied to maximize yield and quality. Field peas may be added to these mixtures to improve forage crude protein. Studies show that crude protein increases by 2-6% when peas are included. The field pea will also fix nitrogen, which the following forage crop can utilize.
Harvest
These forages can be harvested either through grazing or as stored feed. The best way to harvest them as stored feed is as silage or baleage, but with perfect growing conditions, they can also be harvested as dry hay. Most of the time, spring barley or spring wheat will be easier to get dry enough for dry hay than the other species due to stem size.
You can begin grazing these spring annuals once they are 8 to 10 inches tall, keeping them less than 12 inches tall. In order to make multiple grazing passes each year, livestock should not be allowed to graze these crops to less than 4 inches tall. As long as 4 inches are left, the grasses will continue to grow and tiller until mid-June, when they will try to begin to head out.
One strategy to prolong the grazing season further into the summer is to include annual rye grass at planting using the cereal grain crop as a companion crop.
For stored feed, harvesting before the head emerges when it is in the boot will maximize yield and quality. The ideal harvest timing is after the flag leaf emerges but before head emergence. Harvesting these crops in the late boot stage usually leads to crude protein content between 12-14%. As the head emerges and the grain begins to fill, protein content will decrease. Also, during the milk stage, if making baleage, the variation in moisture around the grain head can cause fermentation challenges. These spring annual forages can be a great way to meet your forage needs.
