Turnips into winter?

[hayray]

How much snow and freezing will Turnips tolerate, and when they deteriorate do the greens and or roots turn to mush and are not used by the cows, or will they still graze them? Still have them growing like crazy and don't want to turn the cows out on them too early or too late and not get by utilization out of them.

 

[dun]

If they're forage turnip the tops will die off but the cows will dig out the root. Around here they last in the ground most of the winter or until the cows dig the last ones out.

 

[Chris H]

Good article here, http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0020.html
Says 15-20 degrees for tops, 10-15 for roots.

What variety did you plant? Do you have enough top growth to begin grazing some rotationally?

 

[hayray]

Good article here, http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0020.html
Says 15-20 degrees for tops, 10-15 for roots.

What variety did you plant? Do you have enough top growth to begin grazing some rotationally?

I have the Dynamo, guess Sampson is what most guys want for grazing the greens only but those were hard to find, with the hay shortage alot of others are trying it also. I planted them the 3rd week of August because we had no rain all summer until mid August, so I am not sure how much root growth I am gonna have. I plan on strip grazing them.

 

[preston39]

A hard freeze will cause the tops to wilt and fall over. The cows will eat them however.

Have a neighbor that sows 15-20 acres annually.... for fall/winter grazing. He says they grow well and the animals like them. He suggest adding dry forage/feed with the controlled grazing. We plan to do some for winter grazing..next year.

 

[western]

if you can rotationally graze them (graze down to 3-4 inches and them move off them). If you get the right ones the turnips will grow back. With the right weather, etc... you can get 3-5 grazings out of them. When you get a killing frost the turnips will die and you can then graze the leafy tops and bulb. However, the tops contain 20-30% protein (depending on variety) vs. the bulbs 10%. The bulbs are mostly water so to get the most out of your turnips rotate your animals just grazing the tops. Some turnips varieties were not bred for multi-grazing (they are a "one and done" type) so ask a lot of questions when buying them next year and dont forget... the true forage is in the leaf not the bulb.