From the Pastures: Roller-coaster of rye

I planted cereal rye right into the bean stubble, after combining the beans off last fall. I never got enough rain to get enough growth to be able to graze it last fall. So, I left it until this spring. I grazed it from April 9 to 23, which equals 14 days of grazing for 104 head of sheep on 15 acres. The rye came up uneven and the sheep ate it even more unevenly so I had a roller-coaster of rye for height.

I was going to spray it to kill it, so I could plant beans back into it, but it was so uneven I would not get a complete kill of all the rye. So, I decided to cut it and make baleage out of the standing rye. It varied in height from two inches to the middle of my thigh. The maturity of the plants ranged from flag leaf to boot stage to some even shooting heads, about 1%.

So, on April 29, I walked through it and took a handful of the top of the plants, about four inches, about what a cow’s bite would be. I took 16 samples, cut the leaves into three-quarter-inch pieces so it could be tested, mixed up the cuttings, put two handfuls into a baggie and sent it off to Dairyland Laboratories. I shipped it overnight because it was green, growing forage in a plastic bag and I didn’t want it to spoil.

They tested it on Thursday. I did the same thing two days later on Saturday afternoon. This time I had wet, big round bales, 2,600 pounds weighed over the elevator scales, that I core sampled with a half-inch drill and a three-quarter-inch core sampler bit. Since it was Saturday afternoon I could not send it in until Monday and they tested it on Wednesday, May 6.

The results: growing rye equals 75% moisture, 16% protein, 135 Relative Feed Value; the baleage equals 70% moisture, 13% protein, 111 RFV. The growing rye sample was only the top leaves, but the baleage included the stems. This is high-quality feed for any class of livestock, but for pregnant ewes only three weeks from lambing, it’s what they needed. I don’t plan on feeding the baleage until next January, hopefully.

So, now I have an evenly mowed field of rye and we planted the beans into it on May 5. The plan is to spray it after it regrows sufficiently.

Illinois Forage Institute will be held at Spoon River College in Canton in west-central Illinois on June 26. Register online at: illinoisforage.org/events/2026institute — all the help you need to run a successful forage and livestock operation together in one room.

Highlights are: forage seed selection, hay sampling, micronutrient soil testing, grass-fed dairies, multi-species grazing, hay feeding, cover crops, paddock design, virtual fencing, black vulture control, grazing basics and converting cropland to pasture.