20 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN February 2024 CONSIDERATIONS FOR GRAZING AND HAYING KELSEY POPE | CONTRIBUTING WRITER With spring on the not-so-distant horizon, it’s not too early to begin planning for grazing and forage needs for the upcoming year. Now is the time to develop a strategy to plant spring annual forages or small cereal grains and book seed purchases. Producers should also chart outcomes for grazing and/or haying spring annual forages and selecting fertilizer needs and soil health measures. Deciding What to Plant Price point, location, soil type and expected outcomes all come into consideration when choosing spring-planted, small-grain seed. Jerry Volesky, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Extension range and forage specialist based in the West Central Research, Extension and Education Center in North Platte, says there is not one specific forage that outperforms the others. “Oats, spring triticale and spring barley are all cool-season annual forages that grow well in Nebraska,” Volesky says. “Oats is probably the most common. However, spring triticale or spring barley are two other small-grain options that have been found to perform similarly to oats in terms of forage yield and quality.” Volesky explains these varieties are also similar in terms of how long it takes for them to grow and reach a stage where they’re ready to be grazed or hayed. “They’re also all really compatible together to mix the seed,” Volesky adds. Seed costs and availability can help the producer determine what seed is planted or mixed. Oat seed is typically less expensive, so oftentimes that choice is made as there is not much difference in quality and yield compared with spring triticale and barley. These types of spring forages work statewide, with the year-to-year variability in yield and quality coming from precipitation and spring growing conditions, soil type and added fertilization. Nebraska Extension Forage and Crop Residue Specialist Daren Redfearn notes that knowing your soil type could help a producer make the decision on what to plant. “If your soil is on the sandy side and a little coarse, it might be better off to plant triticale as the root structure can hold it up a little better,” Redfearn says. However, Volesky and Redfearn agree that all of these varieties have been researched to work in Nebraska (See the table on page 22). PRODUCTION SPRING ANNUAL FORAGES
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