Cover Crops Help Reduce Feed Costs

By Scout Nelson

South Dakota producers can improve livestock grazing opportunities by adding cover crops into their crop rotations. A new guide explains how selecting the right cover crops and planting them at the proper time can extend grazing seasons, reduce harvested feed costs, improve nutrient cycling, and strengthen overall farm management.

Parker Witt, Crop and Livestock Systems Field Specialist at SDSU Extension, explained that successful cover crop grazing depends on matching crop harvest timing with suitable cover crop species. The guide helps both crop and livestock producers identify practical grazing opportunities while considering important factors such as soil moisture, fertility, herbicide carryover, livestock needs, nitrate accumulation, and prussic acid risk before animals enter the field.

The guide assumes that the average first fall frost across much of South Dakota occurs around October 1. Warm-season annual cover crops perform best when planted before August 1, while cool-season annuals produce the greatest fall forage when planted from late July through early September. Fields harvested after early September are generally better suited for spring grazing using overwintering species.

Winter wheat, winter rye, triticale, peas, lentils, pasture renovation fields, alfalfa termination, prevent plant acres, and failed crop acres offer some of the strongest opportunities for fall grazing. These systems can produce high forage yields while supporting healthy crop rotations.

Spring wheat, oats, barley, corn silage, sorghum silage, dry beans, soybeans, corn grain, grain sorghum, and sunflower fields also provide grazing opportunities, although many of these crops are better suited for cool-season or overwintering cover crops that support grazing later in the fall or during spring.

The guide recommends using a combination of species such as sorghum-sudan, pearl millet, cowpeas, sunflowers, oats, brassicas, peas, annual ryegrass, winter rye, winter triticale, and winter wheat depending on planting dates and harvest schedules. Producers are also advised to avoid unsuitable species when planting occurs too late for proper growth.

Photo Credit: minnesota-corn-growers-association