Forage Options Following Winter Wheat If you are finding yourself low on forage production due to challenging growing conditions and are looking for ways to increase your forage inventories to get through the upcoming fall and winter , there are several forage seeding options following winter wheat that you can use to produce additional forage. In addition, these forage after wheat options provide added cover crop benefits to the soil. 1. Soil First ® Cover Crop Mixtures • After wheat harvest, planting a Soil First cover crop mixture can provide you with the opportunity to increase your wet forage storage for winter • Opportunity to graze livestock this fall depending on your needs • The best Soil First ® Cover Crop mixtures to use after wheat harvest are: SF Cover Starter – Ideal for silage harvest Fall (Cereal) Rye Soil First ® Select Radish 91% 9% SF Cover Starter & Annual Ryegrass – Ideal for fall grazing Annual Ryegrass 50% Fall (Cereal) Rye 36% Crimson Clover 10% Soil First ® Select Radish 4% 3. Ryegrass Type Festulolium • Cross between Meadow Fescue and Italian ryegrass • Generally has higher yields, drought tolerance, and better persistence than ryegrass • Excellent emergency forage option following winter wheat and would exhibit similar short-term yields compared to Italian ryegrass, but would be more likely to survive the winter and could provide longer growth into the following spring Seeding Rate: 30 - 35 lbs/acre Seeding Rate: 30 lbs/acre SF Multi-Purpose – Ideal for silage harvest or fall grazing Winter Triticale 50% Winter Peas 38% Soil First ® Select Radish 6% Hybrid Brassica 6% Seeding Rate: 30 - 35 lbs/acre 2. Italian Ryegrass • Known for high feed quality, palatability, and ease of establishment • Ideal for a high feed quality, fermented forage source including baleage or haylage • With an early wheat harvest this year there is potential for more than 1 cut this fall and possibly 1 cut again in the spring, provided winterkill is not an issue 4. Cereal Crops • Including oats, cereal rye, or winter triticale provide a very high yielding, high feed quality forage option following wheat • Any one of these options will provide a high yielding, single cut harvest in the fall When seeding forages following wheat, it is important to get the crop seeded as soon as possible after wheat harvest to allow for the greatest amount of growth before frost. It is also important to get any volunteer wheat controlled to prevent competition. @pickseedcanada dlfpickseed.ca
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