Jogeephus":3v3h3zo3 said:
Doesn't pencil out to well for brood cows unless you are willing to limit graze.
Lots of info out there on double cropping behind winter annuals. Some folks that no till into the green only seed about a half rate. There will be some early N tie up. Following a rye mix with soybeans works much better than corn. Goggle No Till magazine.
Penciling out cover crops and annual forages is an art form. Big issues are that many will only accept year one benefits, don't get reasonable tonnage yields, and don't have the right livestock. Best gross margin per acre approach that I have been able to come up with is double cropping full season annual forage mix after a rye/radish mix. Calve cows on the rye, then creep graze calves or graze young stock on the full season.
Cheapest $$$ per acre approach is to broadcast rye with fertilizer after taking off a grain crop, but my short season makes this difficult. With zero planting cost (you were broadcasting P or K anyway), and buying rye from another farmer (wholesale seed pricing), you are looking at less than $10 an acre... Cheap feed.
Those who did not inherit 250 bu corn ground in the I states need a long term soil generation program. Magic happens when you get organic matter up over 3%. Good luck with your experiments.