Annual grain crops for forage
Almost 42 percent of Saskatchewan’s beef cows are raised in northwest Saskatchewan, with annual cereals such as barley and oats commonly used as winter feed sources. A study of the forage potential of other annual crops was recently completed and results should increase producers’ forage flexibility, and add to the stability of winter feed supplies.
The study, a co-operative effort by Saskatchewan Agriculture and the Agriculture Canada experimental farm at Scott, Sask., evaluated Foothill oats, Wapiti triticale, Brier and Virden barley, Indian Head lentil, Tipu and Century peas, foxtail and proso millet and a sorghum-sudangrass hybrid as feed sources.
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Crops were grown at Scott from 1991 to 1993 and at Lashburn and Loon Lake in 1992 and 1993. They were harvested for their forage dry matter content. Protein analyses were done on the samples as indicators of quality.
Barley, oats and triticale provided the most consistent dry matter yields over the course of the studies, says Eric Johnson, soils and crops agrologist with Saskatchewan Agriculture in North Battleford.
There was little difference in yield between the cereals. Triticale and Virden barley had the highest protein content of the cereals.
The pea dry matter yields were lower than the cereals, but were still acceptable, Johnson said. Indian Head lentils were lower yielding than the peas, but contained the highest protein content, 14.6 percent on average, of the crops in the study.
The quality of pea and lentil feeds has been confirmed by other studies, Johnson said. They have high protein, good digestibility and intake by livestock. “If the protein yield was compared on a pound-per-acre basis, peas and lentils compare quite favorably with cereals.”
Johnson said the millets and the sorghum-sudangrass are warm-season grasses and performed poorly during the cool seasons of 1992 and 1993.
The cereals – barley, oats and triticale – provided consistently good yields. While yields from the pulse crops were lower than the cereals, their quality of forage was generally quite high.
Johnson said where high quality is essential, the pulses may be more attractive. High seed costs may be a deterrent. But, if pulses are grown on stubble, the seed costs could be offset by lower nitrogen costs.
Warm-season grasses proved much riskier to grow.
A copy of the full report is available from the North Battleford Rural Service Centre.
– Saskatchewan Agriculture
