Other Forage

The backbone of the dairy feeding program continues to be centered on perennial forages, mostly alfalfa or alfalfa-grass mixes, and our favorite annual forage: corn silage. While it is unlikely that the reliance on these two crops will decrease greatly in the near future, the impact regularly occurring droughts in recent years have had on corn yields are causing producers to wonder about other crops that might be grown in place of or in addition to corn silage.

Crop rotations may benefit from high-yielding forages that are harvested as silage or hay and marketed to livestock producers. Traditionally, producers have focused on a few common crops for forage and silage production, such as corn and alfalfa, and for good reason.

Farmers in Washington harvest alfalfa on average four times a year, costing about $256 per acre for swathing, raking and baling.

Most cropland in the northeastern U.S. is better suited to perennial grass production than to legumes or row crop production.

Sometimes non-traditional crops for livestock can augment forage supplies or stretch the production on a piece of land.

While perennial forage species are the backbone of most forage-based livestock systems, annual forages can supplement and complement the perennials to increase production of your operation.