Deer Valley Farm harvesting winter rye for round bale silage just before tilling in the residue and planting corn.

'Double Cropping' or the practice of harvesting two crops from the same field in one year is not a new concept by any means.  However, as more and more farmers in the Champlain Valley are starting to look at cover crops as part of their crop rotation, it becomes a very viable option to evaluate harvesting them for forage.  The most popular cover crop planted here in Vermont after corn silage is Winter Rye.  Recently, however, we have started to see more and more farmers plant Winter Triticale (a cross between winter rye and winter wheat) for its purported value as a forage crop.  This spring, several producers harvested winter rye and triticale for forage.  We were able to collect forage samples in an attempt to compare them to each other and get a better sense of the overall value of these crops as forage.

We collected samples from three farms on five fields.  The farms we collected samples from were located in Williston, North Ferrisburgh, and Wells, Vermont.  The farms were harvesting these cover crops as baleage or grazing them.  We calculated yields and sent the samples for analysis.  Below is a table with our results, averaged by crop.  The fields were all no-till drilled in late September at between 100 and 150 lbs/acre (after corn silage or into pasture) and harvested in mid-May.  All of the crops were fertilized in the spring (with Urea or solid dairy manure).  The majority of samples were taken at harvest during the split-boot stage (Feekes stage 10).  The yield measurements represent one harvest, and do not account for multiple harvests.  The pasture was grazed a second time in early June and that harvest would increase overall yields.

Overall, in our samples, triticale performed better than rye from a forage quality standpoint.  Rye, however, outperforms in yields, sometimes by double.  One of our triticale samples tested out at 22% protein when harvested at the split boot stage, but our samples averaged out at 17% CP.  The rye was not far behind at 16% CP.

For a cost of $35 per acre to seed these cover crops, a farmer can see a return of between $80 and $200 in feed value (depending on your yields).

Conclusions

This winter rye was drilled at 150 lbs/acre in late September and was harvested at 36-inches at the split boot stage in mid-May.

Overall, triticale matures later than rye and is shorter with less biomass.  It did test out as higher quality feed in our sampling, but was inconclusive statistically. Rye does yield higher.  In one field where rye was planted right next to triticale in the same field, the rye produced 1.49 DM tons per acre while the triticale yielded 0.96 DM tons per acre.  In our observations, triticale seed is often more expensive and harder to get a hold of.  Although, that may change as more producers purchase it over time.  We found that seeding at higher rates closer to 150 pounds/acre gives higher yields and better quality (higher protein, lower NDF) than fields seeded at a lower rate of 100 pounds per acre.

An additional one or two dry matter tons per acre of quality feed is not a bad return on the investment of seed.  Add to that the erosion prevention you accomplish over the winter and early spring, the nutrient recycling that occurs, and the soil health benefits of increased organic matter, better soil structure, and it seems like it makes sense in most cases.  If you are unable to harvest these crops as forage and must plow or burn them down with herbicide, they can contribute significant amounts of nutrients back to your soil profile, enabling you to reduce fertilizer inputs.  Rye provided 45 to 90 pounds of nitrogen, an average of 9 pounds of Phosphorus and 80 pounds of potassium; while triticale provided an between 45 and 65 pounds of nitrogen, 5.5 pounds of phosphorus, and 45 pounds of potassium (per acre).

All in all, a well-managed rye or triticale crop can improve  soil health, water quality, and could become an important part of your feeding program.  We will keep you posted as we continue to look at these cover crops in Vermont.

More Reading:

Aaron Gabriel's winter rye/triticale results - Cornell Cooperative Extension 

Dr. Heather Darby's 2012 Wintery Rye Research - UVM Extension 

Dr. Heather Darby's 2011 Winter Rye Planting Date Research - UVM Extension 

Dr. Heather Darby's 2011 Winter Rye Seeding Rate Research - UVM Extension 

Fact Sheet: Winter Triticale Forage - Cornell Cooperative Extension