Grass Species for Cover Crop Mixes: Cool-Season and Warm-Season Options

0:05 Just want to introduce myself. My name is Davis Bailey. I've been working with Green Cover for over five years now, working mostly on the sales team but I've also gotten to manage our test plots over the last however many years. And through that time it's been a lot of fun to get to be in the field observing these plants at every growth stage from the time that they go into the ground to the time that they emerge to the time that they grow throughout their whole life cycle. And so it's been I would say about the fastest way to learn as much as possible about these different seeds is to see them through all those different stages. And so I'm really grateful for that opportunity.

0:44 Today specifically we'll be talking about grasses but I wanted to show you the functional groups that we'll be getting through: grasses, legumes, brassicas and broad leaves. We're going to go through and talk about a lot of these different species and what makes them unique and why you'd use one versus another one. But that's what we want to do during these times is to step back a little bit from the practical application of our farm and maybe the why of soil health, the why of regenerative agriculture, how it looks exactly on my operation and just talk about the basics getting into the grasses, legumes, brassicas and broad leaves.

1:20 So grasses that we're looking at today, the Poaceae family. All of these grasses that we're going to talk about are in one plant family and that is the Poaceae family. If I were to ask why would you plant grass, I'll just tell you what I think would be the answer.

1:37 Okay, so we've got some legumes over here: crimson clover, hairy vetch, red clover, really nice roots. We've got alfalfa here, some deeper, a little bit thicker roots. We've got the yellow blossom sweet clover on this side. We've got tillage radish. But in the middle here we've got the grasses: annual rye grass, triticale, sorghum, sudan. And look at the bottom of this graph here. Look at what's going the deepest but also look at the overall mass of...

2:10 These root systems and I think you'll see that all of these root systems are important. Since all of you are using cover crop mixes already, it seems you know that we can accomplish more goals at once. We can have more root types at once, doing us greater good. And so there's all of these root systems are important, but there's one that I think has the most fibrous root system, the most overall root mass, and it seems to be those grasses. So that would be a big reason why I would say these grasses are important.

2:40 These fibrous roots are really important because if we have compact soils, these fibrous roots are able to go and find those tiny, tiny micropores and start burrowing through there. And what that means is they're able to inject life into parts of the soil that would otherwise be geology. And that's a big deal because some of those other root systems that we looked at simply can't get to those places. Being a bigger root, they need a little bit bigger channel to get through. Otherwise, they may branch out to the side or may heave upwards or may simply stop growing because of that.

3:17 So these fibrous root systems can really get down deeper and deposit more root exudates because they have more overall root hairs and root mass. Through that process, these are really excellent soil builders, not just because we have that many roots, but we have that many roots that are all working to feed soil biology through those root exudate dates I mentioned. Biomass below ground, but you all know how much biomass these grasses can produce above ground. We've seen some pictures already earlier in the day of what five foot cereal rye looks like and going out and planting your soybeans into that.

3:54 So they can offer a lot of growth. Sorghum Sudan, I think we saw some different warm season mixes as well. And these are really the workhorse plants that are going to produce the overall biggest yields, whether that's for grazing, whether that's for soil armor. Their biomass is really something that we like about these plants. And then in a lot of cases, especially the livestock, that regrowth is a really

4:20 Appealing aspect of these grasses as well so we're going to talk about a couple of different grasses and we're going to start off with cool season grasses. Of all of those mixes that we've planted so far how many of you have planted a cool season cover crop and how many have planted warm season cover crops? Okay so I think it was maybe a little bit more cool season cover crops than warm season cover crops that's what I would assume to be the case but if you have a small grain in the rotation obviously it opens up that great window for the warm season cover crops.

4:56 Starting with the cool season we've got oats and there's really no order to the ones that we're going to talk through. Some things to know about oats: quick germination is probably something that would fit all of these cereals that we're going to talk about but oats are going to pop right out of the ground. Being a cool season plant I would suggest that they're going to grow best from about 50 to 80 degrees. I think that's in general when they're going to be happiest doing their best work so planted in the springtime we get into those type of temperatures that's when they're going to do great work.

5:27 They could also be planted going into the fall. Some people their reason for not planting cover crops is well that's going to rob me of my moisture. If I plant cereal rye and I want to have that moisture in a low moisture environment they're going to not want to do the rye because it may take away that moisture from the crop that really needs it. Well if you fall plant oats that can get you enough grass enough growth above ground to hold the soil to help catch any rainfall but not to use any of the rainfall after it winter kills.

6:01 So I sometimes think that oats might be the best place for somebody to start with cover crops aside from rye or if they're really concerned about rye. Oats are often times associated with their forage value. With all of these species as we talk about them individually we're trying to suggest their fit as they could be used with other different species and oats.

6:23 Oftentimes go with peas or other grazing products like that but oats on their own are really outstanding forage as well. We see them even once they head out, it's just a fairly palatable grain head even compared to some of the others. And so really throughout the full span of its life I think it is one of the most palatable species within its class.

6:45 They're also a great nurse crop. And so some of you have perhaps put oats with alfalfa before. Has anybody done that? This is a way to suppress weeds while that alfalfa is getting started but also to get some forage off that before that alfalfa is ready. So another common use for the oats, something that is very versatile, can be used in a lot of different things.

7:10 I think we also see enough heat tolerance from these that I wouldn't be afraid necessarily to throw a little bit in even a warm season mix. It's going to do a couple things with that. It's going to keep all of the seed bound together. Sometimes people worry about seed separation going through the seed drill. Oats is an awesome thing just to lock everything in place. But it also is going to grow for you. It's going to fill in the cracks. It's going to just offer a little bit more green value even after some of that feed winter kills.

7:42 Cereal rye like I said this would be the other place and the most common place to start with cover crops. So you probably already know these things that we're going to talk about with cereal rye. It's the latest fall planting option and so that is probably the biggest reason why it's the most common cover crop is because people want to have a crop that grows as deep into the fall as possible or cover as much time as possible, often times with the idea of getting greater yields. And so cereal rye is something that can still be planted. Now I've talked with a couple of you already that are still planting cereal rye and more power to you because you've realized that this has enough cold tolerance that it can get started even very late and do a lot of good work for you not only this fall but especially in the spring as well.

8:30 It grows when nothing else can. When it's doing that we're just collecting that sunlight, sunlight that would otherwise be spilling away. We're catching that and we're putting that to a good use feeding that soil biology.

8:44 In the spring we've already seen this last point with some of the previous presenters the amount of biomass that we can get and still have a soybean crop that we can plant at a normal time and not have to push things back. That's pretty appealing to the Cal Rye, but it's really important to think about what crop is going to follow the cereal rye. We talked already a little bit about the difference with corn versus soybeans, so definitely something to be aware of. Sometimes it's the allelopathy, sometimes I think it's just wanting the same things as what that next crop wants in terms of not only nitrogen but moisture as well. And then you've seen the weed suppression benefits too from a lot of those excellent pictures.

9:25 We are fortunate to have the triticale experts with us here folks from Trical. I've been getting a lot of my questions answered about these varieties from Rey and Drew over there. So thank you to those guys for being here. If I had to describe triticale I would probably say the cereal of choice for forage. So talk to those guys, they can tell you about how triticale came to be, its origin story going back from when it was a durum wheat and rye bred together to get that hybrid vigor and get what we know as triticale. But Trical has done a lot of great work to create a lot of different types of triticale that suit different environments and different goals.

10:09 This is the better forage option than rye, although both can definitely work for a good palatable grazing option early in the year. This one is going to retain its feed quality a lot deeper into the year. It is slower growing then, but in a lot of grazing context that's a good thing because that rye can get away from us pretty quick. When we have something that's a little bit slower growing, something that's also beardless or awnless, we've got.

10:37 Something that again retains that feed quality but aside from just the feed market, something that I have started to hear people talk about as their cover crop strategies going up to corn. It's pretty easy to point to rye ahead of soybeans and how well that works, but it's usually that next step of, well, how do I make cover crops work ahead of my corn? Triticale is something that I've often heard suggested for that because it's a little bit slower growing.

11:08 To give you a personal example from this, up in my area last year it was dry throughout the early spring, but then it seemed like we were getting pretty good rain right around the time of corn planting. And so when that happens, that rye can all of a sudden get this tall. And if you had that as your cover crop ahead of corn, that might be a little bit daunting—not only daunting to plant, but simply just a problem to have a grass on a grass, both wanting the same thing. So instead, if triticale is a little bit slower growing, a little bit easier to manage and stay on top of, not going to get away from you as much, so I think triticale has an interesting fit for that as well.

11:48 When would I use barley? Probably if somebody said I've got a pH of eight or higher. So that's I think where we can really think about barley compared to some of these other cereals. It's overall not going to be as much biomass as the cereals that we've talked about so far, but definitely has that great fit. I think we have a lot of good feed quality or a higher protein value to this compared to some of these, but it's overall going to be a lower stature plant. That first point is, I think, its most unique fit.

12:26 And then you see here a bearded variety, of course you've seen the beard. Or here you see the beardless variety.

12:34 Wheat we use wheat probably less than some of the other grasses that we've talked about, simply because most people are still wanting to get to that next crop. And so wheat, of course, as a cash crop, you know about wheat in that context. As far as a cover crop, sometimes wheat is used a little bit less compared to something like rye because it's just.

12:59 Not going to do as much for us as soon as Rye, and so we maybe use it a little bit less than some of these others because of that, but it is a familiar one. You all know of it, and same point that I made about TR being a good fit ahead of corn, I think wheat could be a decent one for that same reason, being a little bit later maturing.

13:20 Another thing that we could keep in mind with all of these is if there is a difference in maturity when these things are starting to grow, when these things are starting to head out, if we have a grazing system or if we have a herd of cattle in the springtime and they can't get to every field all at the same time, well maybe we don't have to plant the same cover crop to each of these at the same time. Then we can instead start the herd on a pivot of Rye, we can move the herd onto some TR, finish up with some wheat. There's a staggering effect to these maturities and we can use that to our advantage.

13:55 This picture of annual Rye grass, obviously we see most of it laying flat there, but annual Rye grass is going to wrap us up with the cool season grasses. This is not cereal Rye, and I want to make that point as clear as possible because that's something that each year we have to make extra clear because there is still that confusion about it. This is something that is a true grass. You're not going to see it. The plant stature is going to be quite different, and you'll probably see that in the grow room here. We've got one tote that has annual Rye grass in it. You're going to see a glossy leaf to it. You're not going to see the same stem diameter to it. It looks more like a grass that you would see in your yard or in your pasture versus cereal Rye that looks more like a tall wheat plant.

14:47 The seed also looks quite different. You see something that's much finer, and it's usually, or it has been at this point, where that unfortunate situation of 'I want annual Rye grass, I want annual Rye grass. Are you sure you don't mean cereal Rye?' 'I want annual Rye grass.' Then if it gets to this point, by that point they're pretty sure that.

17:17 That we have it balanced in the right way that it's not going to take away from the representation of some of these other species. So there are different types of sorghum sudangrass to meet different goals. If you wanted to make sure that you had the best forage you would probably want this BMR variety, the brown mid-rib. It's visible on the plant how different that mid-rib is, and that's just an indication of how much more digestible and suitable for the livestock that might be.

17:45 We've got photoperiod sensitive types, and this one, the first time I learned about this I just thought it was so cool how plants could be designed in this way. But the fact that this plant will not head out until the day length is just right in the fall is going to keep that plant growing vegetatively that much longer. It's going to delay when it shoots that seed head. And so we can position a product like that. Even if it's planted May 31st, it's not going to head out until let's say September 20th. If we plant on July 1st or August 1st, we still are going to get that seed head relatively around the same time. And so we can use that to our advantage, especially if we're planting early on in the year. But just a neat mechanism to make sure that we're keeping optimum forage values or mitigating against volunteer seed with that photoperiod sensitive trait.

18:39 And then dwarf varieties are often times a favorite among grazers, especially maybe grazers of animals of lower stature. They're maybe less daunted to go into some of those taller varieties. They would maybe prefer that dwarf variety, the sorghum sudangrass versus what we're about to get to. The main difference would be their regrowth. When we've taken a sorghum and added that sudangrass trait, we can just think of those in general as plants that are going to have very good regrowth. So we can graze them, we can hay them throughout the summer, and they're going to keep growing for us until things cool off in the fall. Sorghum on the other hand, without that sudangrass trait, think of these as a one-time harvest. They're still going to be some regrowth.

19:23 But overall if regrowth is a goal, let's go for sorghum sedan. If we want a onetime harvest, whether that's for grain or for a big silage chopping, I think sorghums are probably our best fit there. Sorghum I have been really impressed with the root system of it as well. Maybe it's not quite as fibrous and maybe it looks a little bit different than the annual rye grass, but I think it's pretty cool to look at how leaky these roots are. And I love leaky roots within the soil because that's just that much more food for the soil biology. And so I think it's visible to see just how much liquid carbon is coming off of these roots. And that is an excellent way to break compaction. It's an excellent way to feed that soil biology. That's what they need to build that aggregate structure.

20:12 Here too we have a variety of traits. We have different types of maturities, day length or how many days to maturity. We've again got the dwarf type and again we've got the brown mid rib type for these sorghums. So it will annoy our operations team how many different sorghums and sorghum sedans that we have, but there is a reason for them. We want to help make sure that people get the right fit for the right situation. The sorghums and sorghum sedan are great for grazing up until a certain point. And at that certain point, it's pretty nice instead to have something like Pearl Millet. Pearl Millet is not going to have the prussic acid concern that these others are. That prussic acid is something that we have to be aware of, depending where the grazing herd might be at different times. When it comes down to that killing frost, the sorghum sedan and the sorghum will release a dangerous gas to the livestock that can be fatal. And so it's a much safer bet instead of going about that risk to instead have something like Pearl Millet that we're not going to have that risk. And so Pearl Millet I would say is the best high biomass warm season grass outside of the sorghum sedan. Serves that fit I think a little bit of this can go a long way. And so yes, let's see this last year I think it was above two bucks a pound compared to some.

21:38 Of the other sorghums and millets that were a little bit cheaper, but I was just so impressed to see from a friend of mine who is pretty reluctant to cover crop. They'll try some cereal rye and they'll try some turnips and radishes on their seed corn ground, but it took a lot to convince him. If you're taking off had a wheat crop in their rotation and I had to try everything that I could to get him to think outside of planting cereal rye, turnips, and radishes in July. But I was able to convince him that pearl millet would be a good thing to include, and I was amazed to see some of the pictures that he sent from 2 pounds per acre just how much biomass he was going to get from that, how much carbon he was going to get in the soil from that pearl millet. So a little bit can go a long way, and that's true with a lot of these millets.

22:27 The brown top millet is not going to be as high biomass and therefore not as suppressive. It's ironic that we have a pig weed there growing next to this. But anyway, the brown top millet, a great filler for a lot of these grazing mixes, a great hay millet, a great grazing millet, a great stockpile millet if we wanted to make a stockpile grazing mix, is one that can retain its value a little bit better. A lot of these millets are also popular among wildlife enthusiasts, whether it's for deer, but especially for bird hunters. That would also be true of the foxtail millet.

23:04 The foxtail millet, sometimes classified as German millet, these are going to be, I would say, one of the best fits for if you had a 50 to 60-day window that you wanted to make some hay out of before going to the next crop late in the season. Some people will plant this after wheat. Some people, that's when I like to use it the most, is for a short season hay crop like that, a really cost-effective one. Let's call foxtail millet at a dollar a pound and need 15 to 20 pounds per acre, would be a pretty thick stand. That's a pretty way, a cheap way to get some good forage put up for the winter. And then I mentioned some of these can take a little bit cooler.

23:42 Temperatures, I would say foxtail millet and the proo millet or Japanese millet would be some that could take a little bit lower temperatures. So maybe we're not quite up to the summer heat yet, but maybe we can still add one of these warm season grasses in there. I think we could use some of these different millets outside of the proo millet and the brown top millet.

24:02 The Japanese millet, this one, the main reason I use this is if somebody says I've got a place that's just a little bit flooded or this seems to hold water a little bit more than I want, Japanese millet has to be the go-to species. This is a popular one with ducks. If you've got water and you've got something with a seed head like that, the ducks are going to be pretty well fed and happy.

24:20 Proo millet, another one that I would throw in there for the birds. We work with pheasants forever on some full season cover crops. They've got some neat programs depending on where you're located, and these millets would be a good fit for some of those environments as well.

24:35 And then just to finish this up, we've got different grazing corns as well. I have seen some challenges with these getting established as well as some of these other forages. It seems like corn doesn't like that competition getting started, and so that's one of the issues that I have seen with it. Granted, a little bit can go a long way with this too, adding more forage to that transitional temperature range when we're in between spring to summer or in between summer to fall. A few pounds of this in a mix could add a lot of feed value.

25:10 We've got corn and popcorn that we'll use. The popcorn one benefit to that, a much smaller and rounder seed flows nicely through the drill. But we've got corns for a variety of situations as well. And then tea grass, one that we do not put as much in mixes. However, I was talking with somebody in Utah recently who wanted to experiment and put that in one of his diverse mixes, and he said that that was working great for him.

25:38 So the more I'm in this, the more I learned that the things that we thought we knew, maybe we need to keep challenging those. You may have your favorite grasses that I've mentioned, but I would just say that it's worth continuing to try a couple of different things each year to make sure that we're not putting things too much in their own box. Maybe consider something outside of the box every once in a while.

26:01 So with that, we're going to wrap up. Thanks for listening to the grasses.