Pasture and Forage Minute: Managing Winter Annual Forages, Verbal Lease Agreements and Corn Silage Pricing

By Jerry Volesky

Winter Annual Forages 

Are you thinking about seeding a winter annual cereal grain to have some forage next spring? The possible choices are wheat, rye or triticale, but which of these small grains should you seed this fall? Let’s look at some of their characteristics to help you select.

Cereal rye is your best choice for the earliest grazing possible. Because it’s early, it also may be the best match for double cropping. Rye can provide some fall forage, if planted early. Rye also may be the most reliable when planted under stressful conditions. But it has some drawbacks. It turns stemmy and matures much earlier than wheat or triticale, losing feed value and palatability earlier in the spring. Plus, wheat grain producers don’t want it contaminating fields next year.

Triticale holds on to its feed value best into late spring. This makes it well-suited for hay and silage, or for stretching grazing well into June if you don’t mind starting two or three weeks later compared to rye. But triticale tends to be a bit more susceptible to winter injury.