Department of Animal Science

 

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

The Board Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved.

Comments

2020 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report

Abstract

A 4 yr. study was conducted to evaluate forage yield and grazing potential of double cropped annual forages following corn silage or high- moisture corn harvest. An irrigated field in a corn- soybean rotation was split in half and harvested as either corn silage or high- moisture corn, and crops were sampled to determine any effects on subsequent yield due to cover and grazing. Over the four years, steers grazing oats aft er corn silage harvest gained an average of 2.35 lb/d, while those grazing corn residue and oats aft er high- moisture corn harvest averaged 1.28 lb/d. Average oat forage production aft er corn silage was 2,208 lb/ac, while due to later planting dates, oat production aft er high moisture corn harvest averaged 910 lb/ac. Planting cover crop forages following corn silage harvest provides producers opportunities for additional body weight gain with greater forage production than planting after high moisture corn, with no apparent impacts on subsequent yields.

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