By Karla Hernandez
Cool Season Winter & Spring Small Grains
Wheat, triticale, rye, oats, and barley
- When to plant: winter annuals are likely to be planted in the fall and grow in the cool season.
- Benefits: Excellent fall and early spring pasture.
- Grazing: Cereal grains should not be grazed until plants are six to eight inches tall.
- Spring and winter small grains: used as hay, silage, and green chop. Haying might be difficult due to long drying time required to reduce moisture content. Nutritional value of small grain forage declines rapidly with increasing maturity. Typically, small grain forage harvested in the pre-boot stage has about 20% CP, 40% NDF, 30% ADF, and in vitro digestibility of 80%.
Warm Season Annual Grasses
Foxtail millets, Pearl millet, Sudangrass, Forage sorghums, Sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, Italian Ryegrass
- When to plant: warm summer months with a soil temperature of 65 to 70 degrees F.
- Benefits: excellent tonnage and quality. Depends on species selection.
Table 1. Forage Nutritive Value of Annual Forages (values are on percentage of dry weight)
| Crude protein | ADF | NDF | IVDDM |
Barley | 9-11 | 43 | 65 | 64-69 |
Oats | 8-10 | 34 | 65 | 56-74 |
Triticale | 8-10 | 36 | 66 | 53-70 |
Rye | 7-9 | 27 | 49 | 50-56 |
Wheat | 9-11 | 32 | 60 | 58-64 |
Sorghum | 8-10 | 30 | 59 | 72-78 |
Foxtail millet | 8-13 | 32 | 61 | 53-73 |
Cereals were harvested at the dough stage. Reference: MFA Forage Focus (2004); and Twidwell et al. 1992 |
Table 2. Rating of Annual Crops for Best Suitability for Forage (Type Ranking: 1 = best suitability; 4 = poor suitability) in South Dakota
| Pasture | Hay | Silage | Green Chop |
Winter Annuals |
Wheat | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
Triticale | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
Rye | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
Pea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Spring Annuals |
Wheat | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
Barley | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Oats | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Warm Season Annuals |
Foxtail millets | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
Pearl millet | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Sudangrass | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Sorghum-sudangrass | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Reference: Nleya T and Jeranyama P (2005) Utilizing Annual Crops for Forage in Western South Dakota. College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences. South Dakota State University. |
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Table 3. Suggested Planting Dates, Seeding Rates, and Harvesting Times for Annual Forages
| Planting Date | Seeding Rate | Pasture | Hay | Silage |
Winter Annuals |
Wheat | Sept-Oct 10 | 1.0 bu/A | Up to jointing | Boot-Milk | Soft dough |
Triticale | Sept 1-10 | 2.0 bu/A | Up to jointing | Boot stage | Boot stage |
Rye | Sept 1-10 | 1.5 bu/A | Up to jointing | Pre-boot S | oft dough |
Pea | Sept-Oct 10 | Depends on seed size | n/a | 25-50% podding | Blossom stage |
Spring Annuals |
Wheat | April 1-30 | | Vegetative | Soft dough | Soft dough |
Barley | April 10-30 | | Vegetative | Soft dough S | oft dough |
Oats | April 1-30 | | n/a | Boot-early heading | Soft dough |
Reference: Nleya T and Jeranyama P (2005) Utilizing Annual Crops for Forage in Western South Dakota. College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences. South Dakota State University. |