Does Winter Rye make good silage?

[perfecho]

Had seeded winter rye for spring grazing, however with warm winter, extra feed and now the rains, I really don't need to graze. Does it make a good silage?....or better to combine?
Thanks in advance.

[smcgrath76]

We have not silaged it, but have done greenfeed a lot with it. With combining (and greenfeed) you have to watch out for ergot. I think silage would solve most of that issue.

[grassfarmer]

If its a decent crop consider combining it for seed. Timing seems to be everything selling fall rye seed - either there is huge demand or there is none other years. You can't hold the seed over for more than a year though as germination rates collapse.

[woodland]

We have silaged, combined, and grazed it over the years. The silage I believe is lower quality due to having less leaves than oats or barley when it heads out but is still pretty good stuff. One year we chopped ours the last week of June and then planted millet as a second crop right after. The millet didn't turn out very good as it only grew a foot tall and stalled out for some reason, but what if you put in oats or barley for some swath grazing or silage it as well. The nicest crop we had last year was oats seeded the first week of July for greenfeed. If you got the moisture I wouldn't hesitate to do that.

[perfecho]

Good ideas, thanks!