Wholecrop hybrid rye fed too cattle.

[cows r us]

I wholecrop a lot of spring cereals for our beef herd. Mostly oats to form the base of a tmr. I'm looking at the yield from hybrid rye and thinking it maybe a good option. Has anyone done it, what is the feed value if cut late? Is it palatable enough for them? Thanks in advance.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Just to open this up a bit , we used to grow whole crop but conceded that for out and out yield nothing would beat 4 cuts of Italian Ryegrass and cheaper to grow

 

[cows r us]

Just to open this up a bit , we used to grow whole crop but conceded that for out and out yield nothing would beat 4 cuts of Italian Ryegrass and cheaper to grow

I can't justify the contractor charges for 4 small cuts on grass so often end up with one big cut and use a contractor to clamp. and Bale second cut ourselves. Never get more that 2 cuts in our area.

 

[michael N123]

Just to open this up a bit , we used to grow whole crop but conceded that for out and out yield nothing would beat 4 cuts of Italian Ryegrass and cheaper to grow

That’s good if you live in a good grass growing area with the long winter we’ve had here the dairy farmers are going to struggle to get 3 decent cuts the whole crop would be a safer bet to bulk things out

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Yes should have known that have been born on a dry Cheshire Farm

 

[borderterribles]

I used to grow Forage Rye for early grazing on very light ground, and having finished with it by the end of March, have tried most ways of further capitalising on the expense of establishing it. This includes round baling it as silage (generally it is too wet and stemmy to be totally successful), whole cropping it, both as bales and chopping it. It was for dairy cows, but I concluded that as the value of the grain rose, the negative value of the straw detracted from the whole crop, by more. I'd say that Rye straw would be the single most unpalatable thing that I have ever offered to my cows.
Best outcome was to combine it and bale the straw for youngstock bedding, whilst mill/mixing the grain.

 

[Exfarmer]

many years ago we took a crop of whole crop rye and despite our advisors telling us it would be a poor feed the cows did well on it. We cut it at grain at doughy stage

 

[The Son]

I've fed it to cattle, no problems not quite so good as Wholecrop wheat, but nothing wrong with it and cheaper to grow as not so many sprays and less fert, just keep it standing, oh and the seed is quite expensive. Don't discount triticale, much the same outcome as hybrid rye but cheaper seed.

 

[mo!]

I wouldn't be looking at wholecrop if you are trying to fatten cattle, we had poor results here. Maize is a better feed if you an grow it and harvest it.