2s-Foragirig'Aroun'd, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 2i, 2001'
ALTERNATE
FORAGE CROPS
Dr. Dan Undersander
Forage Agronomist
Department of Agronomy
University of Wisconsin
Farmers have two reasons for
asking about alternate crops. The
first is for use as an emergency
forage when stands or new seedings
of perennial forages fail and the
second is as a long-term alternative
to alfalfa.
Before beginning this paper, we
should put things into perspective
by stating that alfalfa is still the best
choice, in most cases, for long-term
production of high-quality, high
tonnage harvested forage. We also
expect to see increased use of corn
silage, where topography and farm
plans permit in dairy rations, in the
alfalfa-based rations.
While grasses can produce high
quality forage well in grazing sys
tems, they tend to be high in fiber
when allowed to grow to higher
yields for harvest as hay or haylage.
The high fiber will restrict animal
intake in dairy rations. Other le
gumes, while providing good forage
quality, tend to be lower yielding
than alfalfa.
Small grains should be harvested
at boot stage (head beginning to
emerge from leaf whirl) for milking
dairy cattle and at early heading for
other categories of animals. The
same is true for small grains seeded
with peas. Small grains are defi
nitely cool season crops and have
greatly reduced yields when planted
later in the spring or over summer.
Fall plantings tend to produce little
forage in the seeding year. We
would not recommend late summer
seeding alfalfa under the small
grains. The cover crop will slow
down development of alfalfa and in
crease risk of winterkill.
Seeding a mixture of spring oats
and winter wheat in the fall will
allow for forage harvest in October
(primarily oats) and again in the
spring (winter wheat),
Small grain-field pea mixtures
have gained popularity as an emer
gency crop. Primary benefit of peas
mixed with small grains is to im
prove quality. Yield effects are vari
able, ranging from 0 to 0.5 tons per
acre increases. Peas may be mixed
with oats, triticale, or barley. Barley
tends to be ready to harvest earlier
than the other two species.
There does not appear to be a best
species the top yielding varieties
of each species perform better than
the poorer-yielding varieties of all
other small grain species. Small
grain-pea mixtures have wider har
vest window. Increased forage qual
ity has been observed with higher
pea seeding rates up to 100 pounds
per acre. However, diminishing re
turns and cost of peas suggest that
the optimum seeding rate is 50
pound peas per acre.
Corn should be harvested for
silage at beginning at half milk line.
Forage sorghum should be har
vested for silage at milk stage.
Forage sorghum, sudangrasses,
and sorghum/sudangrass hybrids
are better adapted than most species
to drought, high temperature, water
logging, and low soil pH than corn,
but will yield less in seasons with
cool August and September. Sudan
grass and sorghum/sudangrass hy
brids should be harvested at two- to
three-feet of height (two to three
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. The
International Market Development
Committee of the National Hay As
sociation has a purpose and goal to
educate foreign buyers, importers,
processors and users of hay and spe
cialized grain products with infor
mation and education on product
availability, qualities, and nutrient
values that will help improve their
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Today’s producers use the latest
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values.
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cuttings for season). Harvesting at
later maturity may increase yield
but will result in very low forage
quality.
Soybeans should be harvested at
R 7 stage (when first pods are begin
ning to turn color). The idea is to
harvest just before beans have begun
to form. Soybeans do not ensile well
because of high oil content and
should be mixed with a grass (corn,
sorghum, sudangrass) at chopping
to improve ensiling characteristics.
have increased demand for quality
roughage, as well as, in the U.S.
The most common hays produced
for export are timothy, alfalfa, su
dangrass, and Bermuda grass hay.
These hays are marketed in a va
riety of ways as feeding material for
dairy cows, horses, beef cattle,
swine, chickens, and sheep.
For more information, contact
Don Kieffer, Executive Director,
The National Hay Association, 102
Treasure Island Causeway, St. Pe
tersburg, FL 33706, (800) 707-0014,
(727) 367-9702, fax (727) 367-9608,
and e-mail haynha@aol.com
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