Fall rye grazing

[Sheepwheat]

Anyone have experience grazing fall rye?

[woodland]

Anyone have experience grazing fall rye?

Had 300 acres in this year. Works great. Especially for early spring grazing. Not cheaper than alfalfa pasture for us. What would you like to know?

[blackjack]

What time of the year do you seed the rye woodland

[Sheepwheat]

Well last spring I seeded fall rye for grazing. Was going to graze it last late summer into fall, but didn’t get it fenced til this spring. It over wintered and was well advanced. By the time I got the fence up this spring, it was fully headed out. Put the sheep out there and they grazed the weeds etc. Harrowed it a couple weeks ago, was dead ripe. Shelled the bulk of it out. With all the rain, I Got a great catch of new seedlings now.

My question was if I could graze it later this fall, like say late October? Maybe graze it for a couple weeks? I assume it would be getting into dormancy mode at that point. I just don’t want to wreck winter survival.

Next spring, with the fence now in place, the sheep will have excellent grazing early on, and the seeding date is better this time, so it won’t be in the fourth and bigger leaf when it starts up in spring. This spring the rye just seemed to green up at the stage it entered winter in, and I just couldn’t get the fence up fast enough!

[GDR]

Sheepwheat, would it be too thick of a seeding rate like that? If so maybe a hard grazing might do it good this fall.

They sure dont like it if it heads out and takes a while to get rid of it if you want to crop the field again. Havent grown any for quite a few years now, last we did like that was triticale not rye but seeded it in the spring with oats, baled it and then grazed it fall and spring, worked good.

[Sheepwheat]

It was hailed fairly badly, and lots was knocked over after a month of sheep grazing it, so it ended up really sparse, like a couple heads per square foot maybe? And lots of the heads simply dropped down and never germinated yet at least. Only the seeds that got shelled out germinated. It seems like a pretty decent rate so far. Lol Talk about economical grazing...

[LEP]

Neighbors here graze theirs hard in the fall and spring. They figure if they harvest anything after that it's a bonus.

Like 300 head on a quarter hard. Land is really sandy. Sometimes if it's wet after grazing it in the spring they will seed barley or oats and greenfeed it. It's fertilized for free

Then the next year start all over.

[woodland]

What time of the year do you seed the rye woodland

Normally the first half of September is ideal but last year some went in October 1. It didn’t overwinter very well and was a much poorer stand than the earlier stuff. We haven’t grazed it in the fall and usually the elk and deer do enough picking on it to.

I’ll second what the others have said about palatability after heading ............. seems to go to zero instantly.

[blackjack]

That’s kinda what I thought woodland.Thinking of what LEP neighbours are doing with some early spring grazing before the pairs head to their summer pastures.Sorry for hijacking your thread Sheepwheat.

[woodland]

That’s kinda what I thought woodland.Thinking of what LEP neighbours are doing with some early spring grazing before the pairs head to their summer pastures.Sorry for hijacking your thread Sheepwheat.

Normally we move out to grass about June 1 and the rye is ready about may 1. Convenient to kick them in there during seeding. Then hit it again about a month after pulling them. Usually there’s 250 pairs on it so they get it chewed off and moved on.

Some folks seed green feed in the spring and include 1/3 rye in the mix so it regrows after they cut and bale it. They get some fall grazing and early next spring too.

Quite a unique and versatile plant.

[blackjack]

Thanks for that woodland... good luck with your harvest.

[Sheepwheat]

Thanks for the info.

[WiltonRanch]

Rye is a tough plant. Word of caution grazing in the spring on high clay soils. Your ground can get real hard. Done it once and worked well for early grazing but was a nightmare to deal with after. Joys of clay loam soil

[Sheepwheat]

Rye is a tough plant. Word of caution grazing in the spring on high clay soils. Your ground can get real hard. Done it once and worked well for early grazing but was a nightmare to deal with after. Joys of clay loam soil

Loam/clay loam soil here. Bad compaction? What happened?

[woodland]

Loam/clay loam soil here. Bad compaction? What happened?

I know if it’s muddy while they are grazing it our heavy clay becomes concrete if it bakes and dries out later. If you leave it over the next winter it mellows out nicely. It can be tricky/ impossible to only graze when the ground is dry-ish. It doesn’t seem to bother the rye much as it stools out more and the clover just comes in naturally here.

Curious how compaction compares between a cow and a ewe?