According to Tom Kilcer, planting a winter annual could make up for this lack of forage quality. In a recent issue of Crop Soil News, the owner of Advanced Ag Systems, an agronomy consulting and research business, suggests triticale is a viable winter annual option to seed after corn silage harvest. “We prefer triticale over cereal rye as it stands much better and allows for harvest almost as early,” Kilcer writes. He adds that applying nitrogen can significantly boost forage yields. Moreover, when farmers seed triticale after corn silage harvest, their total yield per acre can improve by 35% across both crops even if they have to plant a shorter season corn variety next year.
Triticale also provides cover crop benefits like reduced erosion from ground cover and continuous living roots. Kilcer notes these roots capture soil nutrients that would otherwise run off and cause water pollution. The first step is to select good seed. “Certified seed is carefully handled to maximize germination and carefully scouted to ensure it is disease-free,” Kilcer writes. He adds that the optimum seeding rate is 100 pounds per acre — research shows there is no yield advantage to planting at a higher rate.
Next, Kilcer recommends treating seed. “In our replicated trials that were planted on time, the treated seed yielded 15% more,” he says. “The lower-yielding, late-planted stands that were treated yielded 28% more than [the late-planted] stands that were untreated.” Kilcer adds that farmers can reduce plant populations to offset treated seed costs without major yield drag. “You can drop your seeding rate from 100 pounds per acre to 92 pounds per acre and have the same crop if it is planted on time with the same total costs,” he says. However, he contends that buying treated seed and maintaining normal seeding rates has potential to generate the greatest return on investment.
After selecting seed, the biggest yield factor is planting date. In TN and southern KY the first of October is a ‘in-the-ground’ target. For Central and Northern KY shoot for mid to late September. Kilcer emphasizes that “you are growing winter forage — not a cover crop. Planting date is a key management step.” Kilcer encourages farmers to fertilizer triticale. According to his New York research, spring yields improved with up to 60 pounds of nitrogen per acre applied in the fall.
~ Taken from Amber Friedrichsen’s recent Hay and Forage Grower article. Go to hayandforage.com for more information. For the entire article go to Tom Kilcer’s website: https://advancedagsys.com/newsletters/
The Alliance for Grassland Renewal 