SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. – Farmers looking for early grazing options should
consider using annuals.
Trevor Lennox, a rangeland and forage agrologist with Saskatchewan
Agriculture, told producers attending a conference here that growing
annuals is one way to help preserve native pasture during drought.
He said barley and oats are probably the best options.
Some producers are getting good results with triticale, and others are
trying crops like millet, corn and other warm-season cereals.
However, producers need to make their own decisions.
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“Use species that you know are right for you,” Lennox said.
He said annuals offer versatility because they can be grazed, baled or
made into silage. As well, straw can be baled after the seed is
harvested.
Annuals provide high-quality forage, reduce grazing pressure on
drought-ravaged pastures to allow for recovery, and can extend the
grazing season. Winter cereals can be grazed in early spring and late
fall, and spring cereals can be swath grazed.
Lennox said there are some production issues.
Annuals grow differently than perennials.
“It can be boom or bust,” he said.
There is higher bloat potential and trampling loss than perennials, and
nitrate accumulation can be a problem.
Lennox recommended producers spread grazing over two to three week
intervals by altering seeding dates and planting different species.
It takes four to six weeks for spring cereals to reach 15 centimetres,
ready to be grazed. Winter cereals take longer.
He also said seeding rates should be 10 to 25 percent more than usual,
to account for the plants that cattle will pull out, trample and kill.
Lennox gave various options:
- Barley is the most common annual cereal for greenfeed and silage. It
is more drought tolerant than oats. Producers should use a smooth-awned
variety.
- Oats like higher moisture conditions and offer the highest regrowth
potential – if it rains. There is potential for nitrate accumulation.
- Canada prairie spring wheat and durum are used for greenfeed.
- Rye can be used, but there is sometimes a problem with palatability.
Lennox described this is as a “sour period” during flowering.
- Triticale has a longer growing season, can accumulate nitrates and is
not as palatable as oats or barley.
- Pulses are occasionally used in greenfeed-swath grazing mixtures.
Producers should use a small seed variety.
- Winter cereals remain vegetative in their first year. They are ready
to graze two weeks later than spring cereals, although fall rye is
ready two weeks earlier than winter wheat, with winter triticale in
between.
- Corn is mainly used for winter or late season grazing. It is a
high-cost option: seed, weed control and fertilizer are all expensive.
- Millet has a shorter growing season and can be seeded later in the
summer if there is adequate moisture. It is usually grazed or swath
grazed. It can be a poor weed competitor for the first three weeks.
Seed cost is lower than corn.
Lennox said annuals should be fertilized as if they were a grain crop.
He also said producers should have a grazing plan, starting cattle in
the crop when there is 15 to 25 cm of growth and moving them when there
are seven to 10 cm left.
