Double Cropping Alternative Annual Forage Crops to Extend the Grazing Season in the Northern Great Plains.

The grazing season in the northern Great Plains is often limited in the fall by a lack of forage resources. Extending the grazing season into the last quarter of the year may help reduce costs associated with confinement feeding systems. Cool-season and warm-season annual forage crops may provide producers with an excellent opportunity to use a double-crop system with spring- or winter-small grains to further integrate their crop and livestock operations. Our objective was to evaluate the agronomic and economic feasibility of extending the grazing season in the northern Great Plains by integrating alternative annual forages, such as small grains and warm-season annual grasses and legumes, into crop/livestock enterprises. Field trials at each of three locations will be established during late summer 2006 and 2007. Experimental design at each location will consist of four replications of a 2 x 6 x 3 factorial arrangement of a randomized complete block design. Factors to be evaluated include: species (barley, oats, triticale, foxtail millet, pearlmillet, and cowpeas, planting date (after spring- or winter- small grain harvested for hay and after spring- or winter-small grain harvested for grain), and harvest date (around Oct. 1, Nov. 1, and Dec. 1). Severe drought in 2006 resulted in stand failures at each location. In 2007 cool-season species performed best when planted at the later date (after a grain crop was removed) while warm-season species worked best when planted at the earlier date (after small grains were harvested for hay).