Plan Now for Annual Pasture

Spring is the time to plan for the annual forages that you might incorporate into this year's pasture program. Waiting until mid summer does not give enough time for the annuals to develop sufficient growth for productive pasture.

There are a number of annuals to consider for late summer and fall pasture:

• Sorghum-sudan grass is a high yielding annual that is best managed as zero graze but can also be strip grazed. Sorghum-sudan should be planted in late May to early June. Grazing can start once there is 45 cm (18 in.) of top growth.
• Cereals + peas can be used as pasture or silage and can also be used as a nurse crop when seeding down perennial forages. If pasturing when under-seeded exercise caution that perennial forage seedlings are not damaged by the grazing livestock. Mid summer seeding of spring cereals can produce some good fall pasture. Oats are likely the preferred choice for this option. Seeded in early August oats can produce late season grazing starting about 6 weeks after emergence. The oats can be broadcast or drilled into wheat or spring grain stubble. If oats are broadcast, they should be disced in to provide soil coverage of the seed. The one advantage of an oat crop is that they do not over winter where as barley may and could be a problem in the following crop year.
• Pearl millet and Japanese millet are annual grasses that will produce a good volume of forage although they may best be harvested as hay. The millets should be seeded into warm soils after all danger of frost.
• Grazing corn is an option that will produce a large quantity of feed that can be utilized during late summer, early fall or stockpiled and utilized during late fall and early winter. Strip grazing is essential to prevent wastage.
• Brassicas including fodder-rape and turnips are a specialized grazing crop that can provide good late season forage. Turnips can be seeded in July or early August for fall grazing. The tops can be grazed, then the roots are grazed later.

There are several factsheets that give more extensive details on annual forages available in the crops section of the OMAFRA website www.ontario.ca/crops

By planning now and determining your seasonal forage needs you will be able to provide full season grazing for your livestock.