Forage & Grain Crops

Summer forage crops such as millet, forage sorghum, cowpea and forage brassicas can fill the summer–autumn feed gap, but in most of WA they need irrigation, reliable summer rain or plenty of stored soil moisture. Sow once soils reach about 14°C for millet and 16°C for sorghum, usually from spring to early summer. Millet is usually the quickest, ready to graze in about five to six weeks.

Wait until forage sorghum is well grown before grazing, because young plants and fast regrowth carry the most prussic acid (cyanide): never graze below about 50 cm, and we recommend starting our Bounty at 1–1.5 m. The risk also rises after drought stress or frost, and where heavy nitrogen has gone onto low-phosphorus soil. Fill stock with hay before they go in, start with short grazing periods and watch them closely.

Introduce them slowly. Fill stock up on hay or pasture first, then give them short periods on the crop, building up over 7–10 days so the rumen adjusts. Provide roughage, water and a mineral lick throughout, vaccinate against pulpy kidney, and watch for scours, bloat or staggering. Brassicas, cereals, sorghum and millet can all carry high nitrate, especially after stress or heavy nitrogen.

Forage cereals are the go-to for quick autumn and early winter feed. Oats, triticale and cereal rye sown on the first good rain, or dry sown just ahead of it, can often be grazed 6–8 weeks later. Graze once plants are firmly anchored and leave enough leaf for regrowth; most will recover for several grazings or a later hay cut.

Oats are the most palatable and the usual choice for grazing and hay on reasonable soils. Triticale is more disease-resistant and handles acidic soils better than most cereals. Cereal rye, or ryecorn, is the hardiest: it grows well in cold weather, tolerates acid, infertile sands and is ideal for stabilising blowing sand. Many growers sow a blend to spread the feed.

Vetch and forage field peas are the main options. Common vetch suits areas from about 300 mm of rainfall and makes high-protein hay or silage, while forage peas grow a bulky, leafy crop on a range of soils. Both fix their own nitrogen with Group E inoculant and leave some for the next crop. Cut at early flowering to early pod for the best quality.

Deep and diverse roots do the work. Tillage radish drives thick taproots into compacted layers, cereal rye builds a dense fibrous root mat that improves soil aggregation, and sunflowers and chicory root deep into the subsoil. Mixing species gives you several root types at once. This 'biological drilling' works best on moderate compaction; severe hardpans may still need ripping first.

Biofumigation uses brassica crops such as mustards and radish to suppress soil-borne pests and diseases. Their tissue contains glucosinolates, which release toxic isothiocyanates when the plants are finely mulched and worked into moist soil, usually at flowering. It's used mainly in vegetables and potatoes against nematodes and fungal root diseases. Incorporate quickly and keep the soil moist.

Yes, with a dual-purpose or grazing-tolerant variety sown early. Graze once plants are well anchored, but take stock off before stem elongation starts, by growth stage 30 and before the first node forms, or grain yield will suffer. Graze evenly, leave enough leaf for regrowth, and top up nitrogen after grazing if the crop needs it.

It depends on how fast you need feed and how many grazings you want. Leafy turnips are among the quickest and regrow for several grazings; forage rape-type brassicas take a little longer but carry more bulk; forage radish is quick and doubles as a soil-structure crop. All need good fertility and moisture, and stock should be introduced to them gradually.