Small Grains

Prussic acid management in sorghum forages

sgruss@iastate.edu — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0400

In recent years, producers across the Midwest have increasingly turned to sorghum as a flexible forage option. However, careful management is required to avoid maladies such as prussic acid poisoning.

Seedbed preparation for stand establishment

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0500

Seedbed preparation is one of the most fundamental management practices that can make or break our yield goals.

Cover crop or winter forage?

kimmo@novonesis.com — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 10:10:15 -0500

What does it matter whether we call it a cover crop or winter forage?

Soybean forage – what was old is new again

dustin_sawyer@rockriverlab.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 11:09:56 -0500

We may not think about it much, but there’s an interesting story behind how the soybean became a pillar of U.S. agriculture. A long-time staple in eastern parts of the world, soybeans originally came to the states in the early 19th century as ballast in cargo ships that were returning from the Far East.

Small-grain silages: Evaluating and feeding

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 22:10:39 -0400

Small-grain silages are a versatile feed that can add to forage inventory and work within cropping rotations across many geographic locales.

Small-grains silage: Big opportunities for your forage program

rschmidt@lallemand.com — Mon, 30 May 2022 02:14:49 -0400

Cereal crops are best known as primary ingredients for flour and beverages like beer. However, they are also an important source of nutrients for livestock.

Fermentation 101

jwinchell@alltech.com — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 14:00:01 -0500

Fermentation is loosely defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic). Natural fermentation happens in all aspects of nature and even in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals and humans.

Managing risk through winter annual small-grain forages

hartschuh.11@osu.edu — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 22:12:50 -0400

Winter annual forages have become a mainstay for many dairy and beef rations across the country. The greatest challenge for many of my local producers is managing harvest timing to maximize quality with rain events that not only delay custom harvesters but also cause your perfectly timed harvest to come to a halt.

Choosing the right spring grain crop

chad@westernforage.com — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 14:00:01 -0500

Spring cereal forages are an important part of the total forage program. In the last few years, the industry has seen an increase in the use of these spring annuals.

Save on nitrogen for small-grain forages after alfalfa

matt.yost@usu.edu — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 14:00:01 -0500

Single or mixed species of small grains such as barley, wheat, oats and triticale are being used more frequently as rotation forage crops in the West, especially during drought years, as small-grain forages typically require less total irrigation than corn, and the timing of their irrigation needs (April – July) often better synchronizes with water availability from snowmelt, or “high water,” than corn in some areas of the West.

Oats for fall pasture or hay

banderson1@unl.edu — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 22:28:57 -0400

It’s August and fall is just around the corner. Could you use some extra pasture or hay in late September and October? Oats might be your answer.

Small grains as forages

erfunderburg@noble.org — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 00:16:25 -0400

Small-grain winter annual grass crops are commonly used as forages across the U.S. in many livestock production systems as grazed and stored (hay and silage) forages. Small- grain crops include wheat, oats, rye, triticale and barley.