Think about doing a double-crop system. For this year, maybe plant a spring small grain- spring oats, spring triticale, etc. Harvest at boot stage. Then plant a forage-type forage sorghum. I think doing this will help you get past a lot of the grass emergence times. That will help you manage the grass weeds you anticipate. In our area, I would plant a winter small grain - winter triticale or winter wheat - followed by the forage sorghum, but that isn't going to help you this year. If you could find a non-grass summer crop that fits in your area, that could work. Say, plant your spring or winter small grain crop to be harvested as a forage at boot stage; then follow with a tall soybean to be harvested as a forage. Going with soybeans would allow you to use products like Clethodim to clean up the grass post. I don't know if there is a better non-grass summer crop for you than soybeans that could be used as a forage. (?). Maybe what would work for you is to alternate: one year do the small grain forage followed by forage beans; next year do the small grain forage followed by forage sorghum; and continue to alternate. (?) One other thing that I see is direct cut dough stage small grain silage: wheat, barley etc. What I see is this get harvested maybe 3 weeks before same small grain would be combined. It makes a nice feed for dairy heifers or dairy dry cows. I think this could work for beef cows as well. This would be inexpensive to grow. You could try double-cropping, or maybe just grow the small grain silage, and let the ground set empty over the dry spell, and just keep the weeds under control. Some options to think about.......
Edited by martin 1/11/2025 06:49
|