Winter forage impacts soil erosion, organic matter, compaction

SYCAMORE, Ill. — Growing winter forage can improve water quality, reduce soil erosion, add organic matter, break up compaction and provide livestock feed.

“This crop has taken off phenomenally across the U.S. and up into Canada,” said Tom Kilcer, agronomist with Advanced Ag Systems LLC.

“Farmers in Ireland, Germany and Hungary are all using this crop because it really fits dairy farms and beef farms can also make use of it,” he said during a presentation in Sycamore at the 2026 Conservation Cropping Seminar, coordinated by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Kilcer recommends triticale, which is a cross between wheat and rye for the winter forage.

“The benefits accrue according to the biomass produced,” he said.

Therefore, it is important to plant the crop at the appropriate time. Previously, the goal was to plant triticale by Oct. 6, but now Kilcer strives to have it planted by Sept. 9.

“There is a day-and-night difference for the results on your soil and nutrients,” the agronomist said.

“The dry matter produced in the fall sets up your whole potential,” he said. “We are doubling the amount of tillers and that doubles the impact on your farm.”

When Kilcer first started working with farmers to grow triticale, they were getting 1.5 to 1.75 tons of dry matter in New York.

“Now they are getting 3 to 4 tons of dry matter, in the Ohio area they get 5 tons and in Tennessee we got 6.5 tons of dry matter, so you can produce a tremendous amount of feed,” he said.

The winter forage crop helps to control particulate and dissolved phosphorus losses.

“This crop is picking up the dissolved phosphorus and putting it into an organic matrix that stays in the field,” Kilcer said. “And the particulates are not washing off because under a crop like this the rain can’t even hit the ground.”

The winter forage is effective in reducing soil erosion.

“Each one of these plants has a soccer-ball size of roots holding the soil in place,” Kilcer said.

The organic matter that is holding the nitrogen in the soil structure releases it when a corn or soybean crop is planted.

“You are regularly going to have 80 to 100 pounds of nitrogen that is left in the soil from the organic matter release,” Kilcer said.

“Some other benefits are the corn grain yield increased 4% to 7% where they put the triticale in simply by improving your soil structure and health,” he said. “And soybean yields increase 8% to 15% because you protected your soil.”

For farmers with clay soils, the triticale will improve the permeability.

“We have a lot of that soil in the Hudson Valley that is too wet at 10 a.m. and too dry at 1 p.m., so it is a real challenge to work,” Kilcer said. “But we can increase the permeability seven-fold with a cover crop.”

Water is usually the No. 1 factor for determining the yield of a corn crop, the agronomist said.

“A well-aggregated soil will have a much higher infiltration rate,” he said. “On these crusted soils, the water is not moving in, so you don’t have the water there for the crop to grow and you are going to get lower yields.”

As tractors have increased in size, Kilcer said, the axle load goes up and the compaction goes deeper and deeper.

“But if you are driving on a cover crop in the spring, it has 60% less water under it, so you have a firmer soil,” he said. “And you have those massive roots that you are driving on.”

With increasing compaction, the length of the roots will get shorter and shorter.

“If you don’t have roots, you don’t have a top,” Kilcer said.

“Roots should be round and white, so if they are all gnarly, you have soil compaction and you are not growing your crop in the best conditions,” he said. “So, dig in your field and look at the roots when plants are growing.”

For compacted fields, Kilcer uses a process of tillage plus cover crops to loosen the soil.

“We grow a shorter season corn hybrid so we can get the cover crop in earlier,” he said. “We break the compaction apart with a tillage tool, plant the cover crop, and then the roots grow phenomenal in the loose soil.”

The triticale holds the soil structure apart so that it does not re-compact.

“When the cover crop is dead, the organic matter helps to stabilize the soil and provide holes for the air and water to move in and out of the field,” the agronomist said. “And we leave the residue on top so the pounding rain cannot seal it over.”

Kilcer uses a tillage tool that has a narrow shank without a foot.

“All the foot does is smear a layer,” he said. “We go down 16 to 17 inches when the soil is dry.”

Once the ground is loosened, it won’t stay that way unless it is stabilized.

“This is a systems change,” Kilcer said. “You need to plant cover crops each year to stabilize the soil, so the surface is porous and the air and water can move into the soil, the soil is not washing away and nutrients are not leaving.”