Fall Rye

[randiliana]

Just wondering how many of you have fed or grazed Fall Rye. We have been doing both for the last 5 years, and are very impressed with it. We grazed 100 yearlings and 30 pair on 200 acres of spring seeded Fall Rye one year which is very impressive since in this country you are lucky to graze 25 pair on 160 acres. It did rain quite regularly, but still.... The next year we grazed another 50 yearlings on it for part of the summer.

We have also been feeding it in the winter in bales, and if you cut at the right time you can get 2 cuts off of it again, this is impressive since we rarely get 2 cuts out of anything. What impresses me the most about it is how TOUGH it is, you can graze it to the ground in the first year, and/or in the spring again, and still get a decent crop to bale or combine.

The only bad thing I have seen with it is that cows quit eating it once it heads out and won't touch it again until it is ripe. We haven't had any trouble feeding rye bales, and have baled it both at about flowering time and once it is pretty much ripe.

 

[frenchie]

We have grazed quite a bit of fall rye over the yrs. It sure helps to extend the grazing season.The best part of it is seed is dirt cheap.

 

[stocky]

I have broadcast fall rye on top of the ground in areas where the fescue isnt real thick or in areas where the ground is soft around Sept 1-15 and it produces some pasture in the fall (depending on rainfall) but produces a large amount of pasture in early spring----3 weeks earlier than normal grass. The seed is reasonably priced, so it makes a high quality, cheap feed and saves alot of hay

 

[dun]

I have broadcast fall rye on top of the ground in areas where the fescue isnt real thick or in areas where the ground is soft around Sept 1-15 and it produces some pasture in the fall (depending on rainfall) but produces a large amount of pasture in early spring----3 weeks earlier than normal grass. The seed is reasonably priced, so it makes a high quality, cheap feed and saves alot of hay

Is this regular cereal rye? We have the accursed perennial rye all over the place and it's useless for feed. 2 little leaves and a seed stalk.

dun

 

[stocky]

Dun, This is Koolgrazer brand rye that I buy at Nixa Hardware. It is their grazing and cool weather growing fall rye. They have another type called Tritical that is suppose to grow in much cooler temperatures, but I am told you need to prepare a seed bed for it. I just throw Koolgrazer on top of the ground at a bushel per acre where the seed can reach dirt and most of it comes up and does well. In the spring, if you dont graze it, it will grow a stalk and seed head, but if you keep it grazed so that it doesnt joint, it will keep growing foliage. I have not cut it for hay, but a couple of neighbors have and like it as hay.

 

[randiliana]

Is this regular cereal rye? We have the accursed perennial rye all over the place and it's useless for feed. 2 little leaves and a seed stalk.

dun

Yep, the regular cereal rye. There is a lot of it grown in my area, mostly for grazing or feed. Although there are a couple of bigger farmers that were growing it for the grain. One got 100 bu/acre, which is phenomenal for this area .

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have disked grazing corn stubble and drilled cereal rye in the fall. It provides limited fall grazing in this country. It greens up the same time as bluegrass and quack grass in spring, but grows faster at low temperatures. We don't get much grazing before it goes to seed in the spring. Cattle love eating the forage but not the seed heads.

 

[Herefordcross]

Trying it this year

 

[Herefordcross]

When do you guys typically seed this stuff, which month in the fall? Thanks

 

[stocky]

I sow mine in September if there is moisture. You can sow it as late a November, but you wont get any fall pasture. If you are going to pasture it in the fall, sow it as soon after September 1 as you can. If you are not going to pasture it in the fall, wait until late October or November because if it gets tall enough to joint, it will winter kill. I am in sw missouri, near the 40 miles north of arkansas and the elevation is around 1100 feet. You will have to adjust your sowing dates accordingly, because the elevation and distance north will make a difference in your temperatures.

 

[randiliana]

We seed fall rye for fall grazing in August, and if we are not planning to graze it we will seed it as late as October. For spring grazing we like to seed it in late April, for grazing by the end of May or first part of June.

 

[Herefordcross]

Anybody ever try bailing this stuff in the spring/fall? I know it would be hard to get it dry in the fall.

 

[randiliana]

Anybody ever try bailing this stuff in the spring/fall? I know it would be hard to get it dry in the fall.

We have been baling it every year for the last 5. We usually wait until it is in the flowering stage before cutting the first time. Usually, since it is still green it will grow well enough to get a second cutting later in the summer. The biggest problem with baling it is that the straw is so long and wiry that it plugs up the baler easily.

 

[Engler]

When we cut silage we go in and run the disk and field cultivator over the stubble and drill right behind. Get 30-60 days in the late fall out of it. Then put pairs out on it in mid spring until June 1 or so, then rip it up and plant to soy beans. One of my customers cuts it like haylage and piles it as opposed to spring grazing.

Great crop, helps save pasture, but really zaps the moisture in the ground. I guess it's like anything, you have to give something to get something.