Feeding Kochia?

[flatbroke]

I have a quarter of wheat in which the only salvageable material is a healthy kochia "crop" in a large saline patch. Upon consultation with my "weed bible" I discovered kochia aledgedly has similar nutrient value and palatability as alfalfa. My concern, however is the chance of spreading it hell west and backwards by feeding it. Has anyone ever tried this? It's a relative newcomer to me, so I've not much experience in controlling it. It does however seem to only like saline areas thus far, where nothing else grows anyway. Any advice would be appreciated, Thank you!

[Muttley]

Here in central Sk. we see more kochia every year. It seems to be a little more evident in fields that are cropped every year.
Most of my experiance with it has been from baling it in straw in the fall. I have not seen any increase in the weed on area's where I have spread manure. I am sure though that there maybe weed seeds sitting there waiting for moisture and the right conditions to grow.

[jmillang]

I was involved with a feeding trial with kochia to backgrounding animals on a limited basis. We mixed off the kochia with hay. The reason that we used Kochia was its tolerance to drought and saline soils. We were looking at some way to do something with it so it would not spread to all parts of the fields, but at the same time help reduce the saline conditions in the patches of the field.

Saskatchewan Ag has a good publication on feeding Kochia - its at this address [URL="http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/docs/crops/forage_pasture/forage_management_production/feedingkochia.asp"]http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/docs/crops/forage_pasture/forage_management_production/feedingkochia.asp[/URL]

Yes the seeds will typically pass through the ruminant but the viability of the seeds is somewhat reduced, but eventually there will be patches of kochia if left unchecked.

[pandiana]

Thanks for the link. I am in the process of buying feed from SE Alberta and it will contain varying amounts of Kochia. I have never seen Kochia in Central Alberta. Is it because we have never brought it here or is it because it does not do well in this area? What is the risk of importing 'non-native' species?

[flatbroke]

Thanks, guys. Looks like it may be worth a try. That article was vey good, as I didn't realize the possible danger of hypocalcemia. I'll likely try to mix it off in small quantities, and let you know how it turns out!

[flatbroke]

Pandiana; In my particular case, the kochia appeared to originate from a neighbor's oil lease when gravel was brought in for the access road, I had'nt seen it before in my area of east central AB. Although I can't say for sure where the gravel came from, I wouldn't imagine more than 50-70 miles...