Forage Replant Options - Allan Vyhnalek Newscolumn Week of June 16, 2008
Excessive rain and floods, hail, tornadoes, and other calamities sometimes force us to replant crops. When we are finally able to farm those wet spots, Dr. Bruce Anderson, UNL Extension Forage Specialist, offers these ideas for how to utilize acres that probably won’t grow a traditional cash grain crop.
After disaster strikes, replanting a grain crop may be nearly impossible due to herbicide carryover, the late planting date, or lack of seed. As a result, annual emergency forage crops might be your only choice.
Before selecting any crop to replant as forage, be sure to check the label of the herbicides used previously. Many herbicides have restrictions and limitations on grazing or feeding forage grown in their presence.
In addition, unless only glyphosate was used, other herbicides can cause injury problems with forages, also. Many herbicides for corn and milo will injure pearl millet, foxtail millet, and teff. But, sudangrass, forage sorghum, and sorghum-sudan hybrids will tolerate moderate levels of atrazine; and safened seed can be used if Dual or Bicep-like herbicides have been applied. These sorghums also tolerate most herbicides labeled for use with grain sorghum. Another possible emergency forage crop is short-season corn as silage or even drilling bin-run corn for late season pasture or hay, especially if corn herbicides eliminate other possibilities.
Soybean herbicides other than glyphosate cause even bigger problems for replanting to forage. All summer grasses are sensitive to most soybean herbicides. Sunflowers for silage and soybeans for hay or silage are among the few alternatives compatible with soybean herbicide carryover.
Nobody likes to replant, but if you must, select forage that is compatible with your herbicides and livestock.
For more information or assistance, please contact Allan Vyhnalek, Extension Educator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Extension in Platte County. Phone: 402-563-4901 or e-mail AVYHNALEK2@unl.edu .
