29 Our Advertisers Appreciate Your Business Better Farming | November/December 2023 the combine this can work. If you must spray the whole field, you will kill any grass forage that you planted. This means you will have to reseed the grass. Question: When should I cut my forage triticale? Answer: There are a lot of cereals grown for forage in the Eastern U.S. and Canada. One of the current most popular is triticale, which is a manmade cross between wheat and cereal rye. The first improved varieties were started at the University of Manitoba. The variety Rosner was released in 1969. We do have some research to answer the question above. The answer is in the new Forage Publication 61 produced by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. It depends on what you want and whether when you can harvest. The bottom line is that protein will drop from 16 to 18 per cent at boot stage to 10 to 12 per cent at dough stage. But as the crop goes from boot to dough stage there is an increase in dry matter. As you go to boot stage you are not losing protein per acre but are lowering the percent protein. This research was done in the ’90s. I feel that newer triticale varieties may show different results. The research was with a certain percentage of peas. We need research looking at various seeding rates of peas. Also, this is the feed value as it stands. How you harvest and store will affect your final feed quality. These and other questions mean we need more answers to basic forage production issues. Not only to these questions, but to a lot of basic forage questions, such as “how much nitrogen credit do I get when I terminate alfalfa, or an alfalfa-grass mix or straight grass.” “Do fungicides pay on forages?” We know that forages are valuable in building soil health and improving sustainability. But we know relatively little about forage production compared to our knowledge about other major field crops. There is a general lack of basic forage production research across North America. Dr. Dan Undersander, a very famous forage researcher from Wisconsin, has not been replaced with a forage production researcher. Maybe Rob Black, the Canadian senator who is leading the charge for soil health, can initiate some research to help with these questions. I know he knows the value of forages in building soil health. In the meantime, those of us on the front line will be giving answers often based on experience, not research. BF PATRICK LYNCH Patrick writes a weekly crop production newsletter and is a popular speaker at farm meetings. Opinionated, controversial; formerly with OMAFRA and Cargill. CCA-ON. Answering Forage questions
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