What To Sow After Cereal Rye Silage?

Written By: Owen Taylor

Hello, Friends.

I wanted to write a short blog today on your options after taking a winter cereal crop (cereal rye, winter wheat, winter triticale) for silage or grazing. The idea behind this is to harvest two forage crops in the same year. An excellent option to maximize total production per acre while minimizing cost.

This is commonly referred to as “double cropping”

Double Cropping

Step 1:

Sow a winter annual cereal and/or other overwintering plants in the fall, such as:

Cereal Rye
Winter Wheat
Winter Triticale

**Image:** Blend of overwintering plant species to be harvested the following spring (Grasses & Legumes)

Double Cropping

Step 2:

Come the following June, the producer will have three options:

Silage crop early. (as cereals are heading out). This results in more palatable feed and a longer growing season for the subsequent crop to produce biomass.
Silage crop later. (Early July). This results in more plant biomass but less palatability and less growing season for the subsequent crop to produce biomass.
Graze. Grazing should be done before the cereals crop heads. Once the crop is headed, it becomes less desirable for ruminants.

*We do recommend a herbicide pass to terminate any winter annuals that regrow after harvest. This an important step to ensure good results with the warm season crop to follow…

**Image:** Cereal rye being cut for silage on my farm in **June 28th of 2022**

Double Cropping

Step 3:

When it comes to “what to sow,” it’s all about the right plants in the right context. Warm-season plants are a perfect fit when sowing in mid-June or later.

German Millet, Sorghum Sudan, Non-GMO Forage Soybeans, Mung Beans and Sunflowers are other great examples. Warm Season plants are approximately 3 times more efficient than cool-season plants with moisture and thrive in 30+ Celsius temperatures when cool-season plants are shutting down. This scenario will work sowed as late as early July.

Peak biomass will be achieved 50-60 days after germination.