Funded by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Government of Canada and Government of Alberta)
Forages are a major feed component for the cow-calf and backgrounding sectors of the beef industry and include annual forage crops which are largely utilized as stored feed (greenfeed, silage, baleage, etc.). Livestock producers grow large amounts of annual crops for feed (silage, greenfeed, and swath grazing). Both oats and barley form the bulk of these crops and are considered conventional annual forage resources. Triticale is growing in popularity amongst livestock producers. Peace Region (PR) producers are on the lookout for alternative annual forage crop with good forage potential able to considerably reduce the daily feed cost of beef cattle during the fall and winter months without sacrificing animal productivity. This project sought to evaluate alternative annual forage crops against the traditional Hay Maker oats and Maverick barley forage crops.
Methods
Location: This project was conducted at Garth Isaac’s farm in Teepee Creek.
Experimental design and treatments: A randomized complete block design was used in four replications on small plots measuring 8 m x 1.14 m and 0.65 m alleyways between plots. Four barley varieties, 4 oat varieties, 3 wheat varieties and 1 triticale variety (all spring cereal varieties – see Table 27 for characteristics and seeding rates in lbs/acre) were seeded as monocrops to evaluate their forage yield and quality potential against traditional used Hay Maker oats and Maverick barley forage crops. Refer to Table 27 for the complete list of forage, their characteristics and seeding rates in lbs/acre.
Seeding
Cereal seeds were treated with Vibrance Quattro cereal seed treatment before seeding.
Forages were seeded at 100%:
Barley and Oats: 300 plants/m2
Spring Triticale and Wheat: 370 plants/m2
The target seeding rate calculation for the small plot area was based on 1,000 kernel weight, germination, plot area and 5% mortality rate.
This project was seeded on June 1, 2022, with a 6-row Fabro Plot drill and at a seed depth of 1.0’’.
The soil temperature and moisture measured in the top 6’’ was 22.0°C and 30.0% VWC, respectively.
Fertility
Fertilizer was applied through mid-row banding at a rate of 149 lbs/acre. The fertilizer rate was determined based on soil test results completed at 0-6’’ before seeding. The actual N, P, K, and S application rate was 45 lbs/acre, 20 lbs/acre, 0 lbs/acre, and 10 lbs/acre, respectively.
Spraying
A pre-pass spray was performed prior to seeding using StartUp® herbicide at a rate of 0.67 L/acre on May 20, 2022. No pre-emergence spray was carried out. In-crop spraying was performed with Prestige XL at 0.81 L/acre on June 24, 2022.
Harvest
Time of harvest was determined based on crop development, which was when barley, wheat and triticale were at the dough stage and oat was at the milk stage. Plots were harvested on August 9, 2022 using a forage harvester. Forage samples for each variety were sent to A&L Laboratory in Ontario for quality analysis.
Results and Implications
Results obtained testing cool season cereals in Teepee Creek for 2022 are shown in Table 28. Forage DM ranged from 3,935 to 6,134 lbs/acre and varied significantly between treatments. In general, barley varieties were among the high yielders with CDC Maverick Barley, AB Advantage Barley, CDC Cowboy Barley, Canmore Barley (in that order) producing above 2.5 tons/acre of forage DM each. Whistle General Purpose Wheat yielded lowest (3,935 lbs/acre) in forage DM.
Crude protein values narrowly ranged between 7.1 and 8.7% and did not vary significantly between treatments (Table 28).
Fibre (NDF and ADF) and energy (TDN) all varied significantly between treatments and ranged from 38.5 to 50.1% for NDF; 20.7 to 29.2% for ADF and 64.3 to 71.4% for TDN (Table 28).
Ranges of 0.20 to 0.34% for Ca; 0.12 to 0.17% for P; 1.19 to 1.79% for K; 0.13 to 0.18% for Mg and 0.02 to 0.77% for Na were obtained. For the micro minerals (Table 29), Cu levels ranged from 3.2 to 4.8 ppm; Fe 155 to 427 ppm; Zn from 27.0 to 48.0 ppm; Mn from 54 to 136 ppm and Cl from 0.68 to 0.98 ppm. The RFV varied significantly (0.001) between cereal species and varieties and ranged from 123 to 177.
Overall, in 2022, CDC Maverick Barley and CDC Haymaker oats lived up to their billing as traditional cool season forage crop resources in the PR by producing the highest forage DM amongst the tested barley and oat varieties. The CP contents of the treatments were all less than 9.0% and will satisfy the nutritional requirements of only mid gestating beef cattle stock. Late gestating, lactating and growing beef stock on these forage resources will require some form of protein supplementation such as inclusion of leguminous forage species. The NDF contents of tested forages were quite high compared to the normal (< 40 %) for traditional cool season forages and this will likely impair intake. Contrarily, ADF was generally lower than 30 % and indicates a potential for good digestibility of these forage resources. Treatments had exceedingly high energy contents and will meet and even surpass what is required for high demanding beef cattle stock such as growing, finishing, and lactating beef cattle (which require 65 % TDN). Mineral content wise, Ca, P and Cu were mostly deficient in most of the tested forages and supplementation will be required for beef cattle stock on solely these forages.
Conclusion
All tested varieties can be described as high forage yielders but of moderate CP contents. The fibre contents of the tested varieties did indicate potential for low intake (high NDF) but high digestibility (low ADF) and consequently high energy (high TDN). The forages were deficient in minerals, notably Ca, P and Cu. Beef cattle stock on these forages will need some form of mineral supplementation.
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