Fall Cattle Builder: High-Protein Forage for Fall and Spring Grazing

0:05 This is our fall cattle builder mix. So this is, as the name implies, a forage focused mix. The idea here is you would plant it in the fall after the heat of the summer's rolled past, and then most likely it would be grazed in the fall or early winter in almost like a stockpile kind of forage situation.

0:25 Visually looking at the plot, the other benefit of it is it comes back in the spring. And then you have another shot at some spring forage or at this point it could be a great silage option.

0:33 It's a mix of winter triticale, black oats, collards, and then there's winter peas and hairy vetch in this blend.

0:40 We've got two grasses, the Cossack black oats here in Nebraska most likely.

0:45 Going to winter kill. That would be planned on, but would have robust fall growth. As you go south, those will overwinter as well. Winter triticale is a good fall grazing option and also spring forage option. Two legumes fixing nitrogen, improving the protein. And then the collards would have been a great feed source in the fall. Again, those are going to over those are.

1:05 Going to winter kill pretty much every time here in Nebraska. So, yeah, so this was planted October 10th. So at that later stage, this would typically be for a spring forage. But if we planted this August 10th or September 1st, we'd have awesome fall grazing out of this. And so, you again, what are your goals?

1:27 If you want fall grazing, you can't plant October 10th and count on that. But this would be great planted after some corn silage, maybe even if somebody's picking wet corn or earledge and you're getting middle of September, you could potentially get enough growth on this. And then as you go south, of course, you have much larger windows. Or this could come in after a summer.

1:48 Harvested crop of wheat or rye or field peas or something like that. So just keep in mind that there's always opportunities to grow forages. And for the cattle guy, you really need to think about when do you want the grazing? And then you back yourself up and figure out how can I get it planted in my rotation?

2:08 Those things all have to be thought

2:10 Through. And again, green cover, we can help you think through what that means. If you say I need some really good grazing November 1st, we can figure out how to design a mix or use one of these pre-made mixes like this to help you put that plan together. Like Nathan said, we've got vetch growing in here. You know, winter peas have overwintered.

2:50 Stage. Again, this is probably a little bit long. This would still chop well. Probably wouldn't be the greatest bale, but certainly our timing could have been earlier to do this. So, again, lots of options. We can help you put together the right mix for what your goals and what your timing is.

3:08 It's, you know, what I really like about this mix in general is the one-two punch.

3:12 Of the fall forage and the spring. Yeah, here in Nebraska, we need to get it in August or early September if you want fall feed. If you're an Oklahoma customer, though, the October 10th date that we had here would work great for you.

3:24 It depends how cold your winters are, how early they come on, but if you want—because there might be a

3:30 Temptation to do just like some spring oats or like spring peas in the fall for fall grazing, but those are going to die, and you won't have the spring, you know, second round. So just really good forage option.

3:40 And this would be so much better than I know a lot of people are just planting wheat and grazing wheat in the fall and through the winter and the spring.

3:47 The triticale is going to out-yield the wheat, plus the legumes are going to bring a much higher protein. And if you're trying to put gain on calves, which is worth a lot of money right now, that protein is going to be money in the bank.

3:59 Yep, money in the bank for the gains and also nitrogen in the bank for the next crop.