More About Cereal Forage

Triticale, Wheat, & other Small Grains for Grazing, Green Chop, Silage, and Hay

Productivity, quality, adaptability, and versatility. . . .
Dairy and beef producers can realize substantial cost savings and higher profits, while meeting environmental objectives, by integrating cereal forages into a comprehensive forage program and properly matching nutritional attributes of various cereal forages to the diverse nutritional needs of their animals.

Features	Benefits
Annual Crop	Quick source of forage Quick payback on production cost Flexible in crop rotations Allows quick response to changing economic and production conditions
Cool Season Crop	Efficient use of soil moisture Less vulnerable to drought Double crop with warm-season crops Complement warm-season crops in terms of workload, production inputs, and feed supply Reduce soil erosion Aid management of nitrogen and manure during cool season. Utilize nitrogen and prevent runoff and percolation into ground water
Low Input Requirements	Low input cost and financial risk Equipment required is modest, and usually already owned for other enterprises
Widely Adapted	Wide range of varieties allows production under diverse conditions
Competitive with Weeds	Minimize costs, regulatory requirements, and undesirable effects of herbicides Help control weeds that affect other crops in the rotation Help establish new stands of alfalfa and enhance declining stands with interseeding
Relatively Few Economic Pests	Minimize costs, regulatory requirements, and undesirable effects of pesticides Low risk of major crop loss to pests if crop variety is chosen prudently
Rotational Benefits	Help control pests that affect other crops in the rotation, reducing production costs and increasing yields
Versatile	Very high quality forage from vegetative or boot stage harvest High forage yields, especially from soft dough harvest Excellent pasture Grain and straw

For more information about the use of cereal forages for dairy, click on Matching the Feed to the Need: A Guide to Cereal Forage for Profitable Dairy Management

Triticale Forage

For more information about other topics related to cereal forage, please see the More about Cereal (Small Grain) Forage and Documents about Our Products sections of the Document Library.