Grasses are king when it comes to growing cover crops for supplemental grazing. In addition to being the highest yielding family of cover crops, they are vital in reaching other cover cropping goals such as reducing erosion, building organic matter, and suppressing weeds. Warm-season C4 plants such as sorghum sudan…
COVER CROPS & FORAGES It has been said that cover crops are not for everyone… and that may be true. Here are a few reasons why you might NOT want to do cover crops on your Prevent Plant or Fall Harvested acres….. 1 – I have too much topsoil and would…
Rye vs. Ryegrass Many people, understandably, are confused by the difference between rye and ryegrass. These two plants, despite the similarity in names, are not closely related and do not behave alike. Rye (Secale cereal) is a cereal grain, closely related to wheat, with which it can be crossed to…
Millets are a diverse group of summer annual grasses that fit a variety of needs. Pearl millet (Genus Pennisetum) has the highest yield potential among millets because of its hybrid heterosis. Because millets have no prussic acid potential, hybrid pearl millet is preferred for grazing under conditions in which prussic…
Here’s a well compiled publication on the growth stages of cereal grasses. This information is important for a range of goals including termination, forage quality, grain production, etc. In conjunction with other publications this guide will bring some clarity as to when you need to make your management match the…
Here’s a more detailed explaination of prussic acid risk concerning varying warm season grasses. This information should be read by all forage producers and grazers alike, to make yourself aware. Prussic acid concern is greatly reduced in diverse mixtures as the cattle can delute out the toxin long enough until…
BMR for grazing or greenleaf silage Cool season grasses are high quality and yield well – in cool weather. Unfortunately in most of the U S, cool weather is followed by hot weather during which growth of the cool season grass slows or ceases. The way this has been dealt…
Teff grasses reputation has been taking the country over in the forage production world. This rapid growing summer annual can provide very high quality, fine stemmed grass that can draw premiums in the horse market and other livestock as well. This link provides a very high quality overview about this…
