Species and Varieties

There is a wide selection of species and varieties to choose from if you want to grow forage crops. Knowing their characteristics means you’ll be able to choose the best forage types for your needs. Use Penn State Extension’s extensive resources relating to the best varieties of forage crops, including corn and hay. Find tips on how to extend the grazing season, legal considerations in seed use, and forage mixtures to use if you want to minimize deer damage.

Common Forage Crops

Forage species and varieties differ in their management requirements. There are many different kinds of forage crops but we can categorize them into the following forage types.

• Annual forage crops: Generally used to provide feed during mid- to late summer. They include forage sorghum, sudangrass, sudangrass-sorghum hybrids, goosegrass, spring triticales, and grains such as millet, oats, winter wheat, rye, and barley.
• Perennial legumes forage crops: This type produces high levels of protein for livestock. This type includes birdsfoot trefoil, birdsfoot trefoil, white clover, red clover, kura clover, sweet clover, alfalfa, and cicer milkvetch.
• Perennial grasses: As well as providing food, these forage crops also help bind the soil together and reduce erosion. Species include timothy, meadow and smooth bromegrass, orchardgrass, reed canarygrass, tall fescue and other members of the fescue grass family, perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, and other common Pennsylvania grasses.
• Forage brassica crops: You can grow these in poor soil. They include fodder rape, fodder kale, turnip, and swede.

What Forages Should I Plant?

You must take a number of factors into account when selecting the correct forage species. Ideally, you should choose forage crops that best suit your needs and know how to manage them effectively throughout the year. Aside from that, there are environmental conditions to bear in mind. If, for example, the weather has affected perennial species, there may be a need to fill the void which is where annual crops can be effective. Certain forage crops also perform better in certain locations, such as these perennial forages that are common to the Mid-Atlantic region.

Pasture management plays a key role in the production of forage crops. An essential part of getting the most from your pastures in the spring green-up. Base your pasture renovations and reseeding decisions on the type of livestock grazing the pasture and their year-round needs. Forage trials are continually undertaken to help producers maximize forage crop production.

Being able to identify the different forage crops is an essential skill for producers. You can identify common Pennsylvania grasses by their structure. There are also toxic plants such as poison hemlock you should be able to identify and manage successfully. A Pennsylvania certified crop adviser will be able to offer advice if there’s anything you’re uncertain about.

There are a number of considerations to bear in mind when establishing forage crops. Successful forage crop establishment depends on planning ahead. You must test the soil, control the weeds, and purchase the right seeds for seeding. Seed laws regulate replanting and selling seed and you should be familiar with what these are. There are seed mixtures you can plant if you want to minimize deer damage. If wet weather has delayed your wheat planting Penn State Extension has some tips that might help with your small grain planting decisions.

Spring Forage Crops

Several factors can affect the success of spring forage crops. Preparation starts long before it’s time for seeding. One essential task is getting drills and seeders in shape. Spring weather is notoriously unpredictable, which makes optimizing spring forage quality a challenge. Soil fertility management is an ongoing process, but before and during the establishment of forage crops it is crucial for it to be in the best condition possible. Weeds can also be a problem, particularly among alfalfa forage crops, so spring weed control is necessary. For herbicide application, the timing has to be right if you don’t want to cause stand or yield reductions. Careful assessment of your alfalfa stand is also important.

Summer Forage Crops

During the summer months, a shortage of forage crops is not uncommon. Summer annual grasses are excellent for supplemental or emergency forage. No-till annuals can also be used to supply grazing at this time. Careful preparation for the summer slump means you can extend the grazing season. Summer is also a good time to plant fall-seeded alfalfa.

Fall Forage Crops

Forage management in the fall means paying attention to the details that will help to ensure your forage crops survive through the winter. Fall forage assessment is important, particularly with alfalfa stands. The window for seeding in the early fall is a small one, so it’s important to take advantage of the opportunity to improve or establish new stands.

Use cover crops after you have harvested fall forage crops as they help protect the soil from erosion, counter soil impaction that may happen, and provide several other benefits.