Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.
On August 14, 2013 the University of Wisconsin is holding an Agronomy Field Day at the Marshfield Ag Research Station. The line-up of speakers looks outstanding and CEU credits are available for Certified Crop Advisers.
I will be speaking out at the cover crop plots looking at how we can use cover crops as forages and benefit the soil at the same time.
For past blog posts on using cover crops for forages looks here and here.
I took a new management position in May of 2012 with Wisconsin based Legacy Seeds, Inc.
While my main responsibility lies in working with alfalfa and forages I also was pleased to find out that there were several folks in Wisconsin that were using cover crops! Well, you would figure that I’d get involved more with cover crops in the Badger state, and I have.
In February 2012 I conducted two cover crops meetings in the Fox Lake, WI area with over 75 producers present. The purpose of these meetings were to teach farmers about how cover crops can work in their farming operations. I was very pleased with the outcome of those meetings as over 10,000 acres were planted on farms that were represented at those meetings.
In July I held three more cover crop meetings in Eau Claire, Waupaca, and Brillion, WI. All combined, there were over 150 farmers present and I’m confident that there were at least 30,000 acres of cover crops planted by those farmers.
While I don’t have figures of how many cover crops were planted in Wisconsin, I think there were as many as 250,000. Many of those acres were after wheat was harvested and a surprising number after corn and soybeans.
Feed was one reason so many acres were planted. The severe drought has created a forage shortage.
But many farmers planted their cover crops because they want healthier soils and better production. Still others planted because they want to hold onto the nutrients from their manure. Whatever the reason, cover cropping is alive and well in Wisconsin – and growing.
You can click on the pictures below to see a larger image of each.
Harvesting cover crops for emergency fall forage may be able to play a major role in lessening the impact of the 2012 drought disaster for livestock producers. As I traveled from Indiana to eastern Iowa and through Wisconsin I saw dry ponds, cracked soil, nearly dead alfalfa, completely brown pastures, and an exceptionally poor corn crop.
I have received phone call after phone call from dairy and beef producers asking what cover crops they can use to provide food for their animals this fall and winter. Below I have listed a variety of choices that may work well for producers needing feed (if we get rain). By the way, these choices are also excellent cover crops.
Both of these would be choice 1-A and 1-B. However the producers in Texas have been experiencing drought for the past few years and seed supply is exceptionally tight. Choose BMR varieties if you can find them.
This is not a “sexy” choice but it is a very good option. Oats sown in July and August will out-produce all of the winter cereal grains if a fall harvest is desired. I have worked with Ed Ballard from the University of Illinois and Gary Wilson from Ohio State University Extension for a number of years on summer seeding Oats and found great success almost every year.
Stan Smith from OSU Extension is a real believer in summer seeding oats as seen in this excellent article. Seed the Oats at 2 bu/acre and fertilize with 50+ Units of N or manure equivalent. Spring Triticale will behave very similarly to Oats when summer seeded.
I really like this mix because it will be higher quality than plain oats. Plant the oats in the grain box and the crimson clover in the small seed box. Plant the oats at 2 bu/acre and the crimson clover at 5-8#/acre.
Nathan Anderson of Cherokee, Iowa (NW Iowa) planted this mixture in 2011 and had very good success. While taking one cutting for hay and grazing 2 times in the fall/winter, he showed a profit of nearly $140/acre in beef production (weight gain) and hay produced.
Make sure that the crimson clover is inoculated and do not plant the crimson clover more than 1/2″ deep.
Harvest the oats in the fall and the cereal rye in the spring. I’d look at 2 bu/acre oats and 1 -1/2 bu/acre on the cereal winter rye or triticale. Consider adding 5-8# of Crimson clover to this mix as well.
Plant a 50/50 mix of this combination for high quality fall forage. Be sure to inoculate the peas. Plant this mix 1 1/2 -2″ deep for best success.
Annual Ryegrass or Italian Ryegrass will not produce the tonnage that the spring cereal grains will. Ryegrass needs cooler temperatures, more moisture, and more fertility than the spring cereal grains need. The main benefit is that you can get a very high quality forage…just not a lot of it unless you have the moisture, cooler temps, and higher fertility. Maybe in the southern parts of the Midwest and further south this can be a good option. Italian Ryegrass will not grow as aggressively in the fall as Annual Ryegrass will.
Barley is a multipurpose cover crop that can be beneficial to hog, dairy, and beef producers. It is a wonderful grain to use for feed and it is harvested for grain in June. The haylage would be harvested in May with plenty of time to plant corn silage or Sudangrass. Spring Barley planted in July/August will act like Oats and spring Triticale. Winter Barley will act more like cereal rye or winter Triticale. Plant 2 bu/acre for grain production and 3 bu/acre for forage production. Use less N than you would with Wheat or Ryegrass.
