Monday, June 18, 2007 - 10:20 AM
Cereal Forages in Integrated crop-livestock Operations.
S. Dennis Cash, Dave Wichman, Lisa Surber, Alison Todd, and Aimee Hafla. Montana State University, Animal & Range Sciences Dept., 235 Linfield Hall, PO Box 172820 MSU, Bozeman, MT 59717-2820
Cereals are widely used as forage in the Northern Great Plains because of the short growing season and precipitation patterns. For example, in Montana about 11 percent of the 2.7 million acres of harvested hay is comprised of annual forages. Several awnless or hooded cultivars of barley, triticale, and winter wheat developed for dry hay production have been evaluated across the region. During persistent drought in central Montana from 1999 through 2002, dryland continuously recropped cereals had higher forage production levels than alfalfa. Alfalfa yields (one year-old stands) ranged from 0.94 to 2.69 Mg per ha compared to 3.28 to 6.70 (winter triticale) and 3.47 to 6.27 Mg per ha (hay barley). Winter cereals are superior to spring cereals in terms of water use efficiency and forage yield potential. In recent feeding trials, we have documented that forage barley is a slightly better roughage source in calf backgrounding diets than other cereals. However for livestock producers, winter cereals offer more flexibility in terms of fall planting, higher yields and other agronomic benefits.