# Winter wheat for grazing



## Jessilee7 (Sep 26, 2011)

We sold all of our farming eqipment a few years back so I have a question about over seeding good pasture with wheat for winter grazing. We have a slight chance for rain yhe next few days so Im trying to figure out our options. 
Can you broadcast winter wheat seed? If so... I was thinking of leaving the animals on it for a week or two to kind of work the seed in for me as they walk. Wanting to plant about 35 acres thats in 3 pastures, 3ac, 10ac, and one between 20-25acres. 
How many lbs per acre do you plant when doing it this way? How much return will we get if conditions are average - will it be worth it? 
No rye seed to be found here this year I guess... But if you have another suggestion for other options to plant lemme hear em! Have a coiple hundred more acres I could plant but dont neccessarily need to if I'm estimating the return right on the forage that would be available.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

I found this with a google search for your STATE OKLA. IT SOUNDS LIKE WHAT I DO



https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...K9nFmM&sig=AHIEtbTp71CI_cLjj7Sbl0ZfaH81HbYEaw


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Great information. I was wondering about this too. Can I drill seed it in an existing pasture?


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## Mme_Pickles (Nov 15, 2011)

Watching this thread 'cause I have similar questions but you beat me to it!  I don't have anywhere near the acreage you have so I'm looking at a much smaller amount of anything mentioned!


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

I USE 75 pounds to acre and without a draught September 15 but with the draught I felt with the ground bear and with a nice rain on the ground and 2 days of rain in the forecast I decide NOW ...three things I always keep in mind the seed has to touch the ground and has to have moisture with temps in the 90's.....to touch the ground i have broadcast it out and dragged a spike hire to let it get to the soil...in past years I have even hired it first broadcast when the rain hit and rehired..did not seem to help the stand...

Wheat is a hit and miss here in Missouri...with out the 3 things I have had wheat seed set there all winter and come up in the spring...no were near what was planted but enough to know the seed was good something in the 3 were wrong

hope this helps....I also plant the turnips in the turnip post I can get a days feed for $3 by rotating grazing...instead of a $70 bale of hay

I do not plan on wheat because it all depends on the stand but it is in the $4 a day feeding usually


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

if you will do a google search for your state it will make a difference in time and amountof seed


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

Callieslamb said:


> Great information. I was wondering about this too. Can I drill seed it in an existing pasture?


sure you can but thats a lot of fuel.....your idea of existing pasture and mine are probaly two different things...if you have a NO TILL PASTURE DRILL if you leave the grass high or your soil has very little rocks...if you lock the cows in the plot and make them graze it down to the ground then drill it in with a double disk drill...read my other post you need the 3 things


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## ramiller5675 (Mar 31, 2009)

I grow winter wheat and started drilling any left over wheat seed into my pastures a few years ago.

I use a no-till drill and drill about 90 lbs. per acre in about mid October. If you drill it too early, the warm season grasses are still growing and are too competitive for any wheat that comes up (you can also have problems with things like armyworms, etc.). Better to wait till it is almost time for the grasses to go dormant, so that the wheat doesn't have as much competition. Putting down some Nitrogen at planting and/or topdressing in early spring might be needed to get some decent results. 

You might get just as good results by putting your money into fertilizer instead of seed and just fertilizing now to get a little more growth out of your warm season grasses before they go dormant. Then just feed that stockpiled grass over the winter. 

I try to keep the cattle off until early spring (Feb.-Mar) so that I can get a good stand of wheat and as insurance against running out of hay (it's easier to stretch the last of the hay out if there is some wheat to graze). 

I've tried broadcasting some wheat I didn't want to run through the drill in a small area and didn't get very much to come up (dragging a harrow over it like described above might have helped). 

Oklahoma State has a Fact Sheet that might help at:

http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-6040/PSS-2071web.pdf


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

Winter wheat gives more than just grazing benefits. All winter long it is growing roots, way deep in the soil. When you harvest in the spring, the roots decay and become wicks to bring moisture up to your summer grasses.

Plant in time to get 4" to 6" tall by cold weather. In the spring it will burst into growth. You can turn the cows into it any time in the spring or wait and bale it in the soft milky seed stage.

It doesn;t do a lot of good to seed wheat into pasture that is being grazed. The cattle will eat the sprouts.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Jesseelee7, 

I plant a lot of wheat and winter pasture mix for grazing. In my neck of the woods, I use 70lbs per acre (between 1st and 3rd week of September.) broadcast and then roll over it with a roller. (homemade piece of pipe filled with concrete.) I've also simply drug a 10" piece of pipe over it to make sure it has good ground contact. 

If you're going to broadcast it, make sure moisture is in the future and there's a good supply in the forseeable future. If you spread the seed out and it sprouts it needs to have the ability to get rooted in to stay alive. Many a wheat crop planted this way fails because it sprouts quickly and then has no moisture to grow off of. 

Are you planning on breaking the ground up before planting? If you're not breaking the ground, I'd suggest doing what myers suggested above and pulling a spike harrow over it to give it good ground contact.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I was thinking of planting now in just a small area of my pasture. I can block it off so they can't graze it for however long is needed. I doubt there will be any grazing in Feb here. We are usually under 2-3 ft of snow then. Unless this winter is like the last and it's 70 degrees in Feb. Can I get a good enough stand yet this fall so they can graze in late Oct - early Nov. What are the chances the wheat will come back strong in the spring earlier than my summer grasses? My goal is to extend the grazing season. 

We fertilized the entire property a couple of weeks ago. The grass doesn't seem to be growing any faster. The lawn now has to be mowed every 4-5 days, but the pasture doesn't really seem to be responding as much as I'd like to see. Maybe I was expecting too much though. 2nd thought would be that because the nights are in the mid-40's-low 50's, perhaps we have an abundance of warm season grasses and not enough of the cooler season grasses in our pasture mix. The cooler temps would keep the warmer grasses from growing. Daytime temperatures are in the low 80's though.

Would something like turnips or mangles be better for what I need in my climate? I realize those are only 1-time crops and they won't come back in the spring. I don't want to tear up a portion of my pasture for them though.

What's the difference in oats and wheat as far as grazing?


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## ramiller5675 (Mar 31, 2009)

Is winter wheat typically grown in Michigan? 

Wheat might not be the best choice for winter grazing if you are too far north. The only way to find out might be by planting some wheat and seeing if it works.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

That's what I was wondering. Thank you for making it so clear. I'm as far south in MI as you can go and still be in MI over against Lake MI. That helps a bit. If it would be tall enough to graze by late Oct until the snow gets too deep and again in Late April or early May...then I could figure if it was worth the cost...or if I would be better off to plant more cool season grasses. Does it stay green all winter or does it die back and start growing all over again. We usually get a lot of snow, but not the really cold temperatures.


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

Here in Virginia wheat planted now will stop growing above ground as soon as it gets cold. The roots keep growing all winter. In spring, when the warm weather returns, the above ground wheat will grow rapidly.

It can be allowed to grow to maturity, when all the nutritional value of the plant is transferred into the seed. Once harvested, the plant that is left is straw with practically no food value.

The trick is to either harvest it for hay or let the cattle eat it before it puts all it's nutrients into the seed.

My cattle really like the taste of green wheat plants. It's about like barley or oats on their "like list" and ahead of rye.

I've baled wheat for hay before, but I prefer baling barley or oats. The timing isn't so exact. Weather seldom cooperates.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

guys are planting wheat and triticale around here to get some grazing before winter and next year. 
Friend borrowed a no-till drill and socked in a bunch of it last week


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

We used to buy winter wheat baled to feed during winter. It was a cover crop for a tobacco crop fed allot less, less waste. I wish he still did it. He got out of tobacco.


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## unioncreek (Jun 18, 2002)

we used to graze our winter wheat crop all fall and into winter as long as it wasn't covered with snow. We always knew when the snow covered the wheat as the cows would be standing by the corral waiting to be fed.

Bob


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

So you can bale it with the other grasses in summer if it doesn't get too stemmy? 

Would the roots had some organic matter to the soil too? I'm low on that. I'm hoping it will help the soil maintain some moisture during the summer. We're fairly sandy right now.


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## ramiller5675 (Mar 31, 2009)

I don't know about Michigan, but I've baled a little here in OK in about May when it is just heading out. We usually combine our wheat around early to mid June as a comparison.

There is a little more info at: Wheat Hay Is Solid Cash Crop | [primary-term] content from Hay & Forage Grower

All the numbers are from 1998 and don't really apply to today, but it still tells you a little about baling wheat (although I haven't needed to let wheat hay dry for 7 days to bale it).

And, the root system from any plant will help build organic matter.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

Callieslamb said:


> We fertilized the entire property a couple of weeks ago. The grass doesn't seem to be growing any faster. The lawn now has to be mowed every 4-5 days, but the pasture doesn't really seem to be responding as much as I'd like to see. Maybe I was expecting too much though. 2nd thought would be that because the nights are in the mid-40's-low 50's, perhaps we have an abundance of warm season grasses and not enough of the cooler season grasses in our pasture mix. The cooler temps would keep the warmer grasses from growing. Daytime temperatures are in the low 80's though.


The reason for that is, in most areas where pastures/hay need fertilizer, it is an annual application. The fertilizer you put on 2 years ago, is most likely no longer available. If the fertilizer seems to have done no good, then you need to have your soil ph checked. If the ph level is too far off, it won't matter how much fertilizer you apply, the plants can't utilize it.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

The Ph was checked with the soil test. It's 5.9 so a bit off of the 6.2. We plan to lime after we, hopefully, get one more cutting next week.

It's growing, just slower than I's like. 2 feet would be nice. LOL!!


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