Spring seeded crops for grazing.

[kens]

Because pastures are so poor in East Central AB., I was wondering which crop (variety) would be best to supply grazing on cultivated land from early summer to late fall?

[Muttley]

I seeded fall rye last spring. Seeded first week in May about 2 bushels to the acre. I had other grazing in the field with sloughs so I never even took the cows off it. I found that even a 1/2 inch of rain the rye would jump right up.
The field was 160 acres divided into two 80 acre pastures. I rotated the pastures about every 2-4 weeks depending upon growth. With rye you do not want it to head out as then the plant will not come back.
I have tried this in the past and used the same field for 3 years without replanting. I believe I could have gotten more, the final year I had a lot of rain and did not keep it ate down.
I hope that my rye will be ready for grazing early this year.
I plan to seed more this year, only this year if there is moisture I will also seed some grass. I am hoping by doing this I can be grazing this year while my grass is getting established. I can not afford to have a field sitting for a time while waiting for grass.
When I had tried rye on a good growing season I was able to handle close to a pair on 2 acres. This past year I rotated and had from 20 pairs to 50 pairs on the 160 acres. I would like to have seen better growth but on a year like this it saved me big time.
I really believe that if one had a large pasture with not enough head and good growing conditions you could not keep up with it heading out.

[kens]

Did you seed spring rye or fall rye? I don't think that fall rye seeded in the spring will give that much grazing the first year will it.?

[dfarms11]

yes, you want to seed fall rye as it will not head out the first year. We have used it in the past also and it is a wonderfull short term pasture. In our area, it is hard to get enough regrowth in the second year though to make it cost effective. Our second year would always freeze out at least %50. So we would cultivate it up say mid - late june. Although in the second year take into consideration that you will probably have the cows on it 2-3 weeks sooner than your pasture.

[Muttley]

I found my second year just as good as my first, take in to consideration that our growing conditions were nice.
It was in my third year I let the crop get ahead of myself and I chose to work it up.
I figure that even having to reseed it's still was good grazing. The cows tend to stay off the grass and on the rye.
My one complaint was it volunteers for a long time. But now that I only have cattle I don't care.
I also hear Triticale works well to, I just haven't met anybody locally that's tried it.
I think you'll see more rye in my area this year as many of my neighbors saw the field all last year as it was on a very busy road. My weaning weights were fine and the cows were allways in good shape. I had some neighbors feeding cows on pasture by July and at least I wasn't.

[dfarms11]

don't get me wrong, rye works great. As yu said, the cows love it more than grass, and they do well on it. And it also grows more with less rain than pasture will, i have found. Last time I did it, pasture rent was probably around half of what it is now too. And with direct seeding costs can be cut down even further.

Thinking of it now, it would probably pay to direct seed the same field every year with just enough seed to replenish the winter kill, and rye that might get away on you and head out.

[pnaude]

I am considering direct seeding fall rye into old grass pasture using disc drill.
Should I first round up the grass before seeding or just seed it into the existing (poor) stand.It is mainly meadow brome with minimal alfalfa. What seeding rate would you recommend?
How about fertilizer?