– Jason Hartschuh and Mark Sulc
The greatest challenge with winter annual cereal forages for many producers is managing harvest timing to maximize quality with spring rain fall events that not only delay custom harvesters but also cause your perfectly timed harvest to come to a halt. One goal should be to harvest at least some of your winter annuals at the highest quality possible unless your operation only needs low quality forage.
Figure 1. Feekes growth stages in cereals.
Diversifying to multiple species is one of the best risk management practices. Planted on the same day, four species we have been comparing flowered over a 3 week period. These trials were conducted at the Ohio State University agricultural research stations in Fremont and Jackson Ohio, allowing us to capture two very different . . .
Continue reading Harvest Timing Affects Winter Annual Forage Yield and Quality