Winter Annuals

Although most folks think about planting winter annuals for cattle to graze, it can be done for horses as well.  These forages can provide grazing from late November to mid-May or even June.  And although the first part of the summer was wetter than normal in the north central piedmont of North Carolina, the later part of the summer was pretty dry and hot until Tropical Depression Julia rolled through.  Winter annuals can extend your grazing season and reduce the need of feeding hay. 

When it comes to winter annuals for grazing, cereal grains and ryegrass are what typically come to mind.  Both will work well for horses.  Both are pretty responsive to nitrogen application and both can provide some late fall grazing (if it’s planted early enough and moisture is received) and some spring grazing as well.  The key is to monitor the grazing habits of the horses so that they are not pulling the plants up, root and all.  Flash grazing (not leaving them on a section of pasture for long periods of time) will be beneficial.  Graze them quickly and then move to another paddock.

Ryegrass (annual, not perennial) tolerates moderate soil acidity and wet, poorly drained soils.  So, if you have some areas that fit this description, ryegrass may be something to consider.

Cereal grains (wheat, oats, rye triticale) make good winter grazing options.  Oats are the least cold tolerant and may winter freeze.  Rye (like ryegrass) can tolerate more soil acidity.

Most winter annuals can be planted through the end of October and possibly on into the first part of November.  However, moisture and temperatures are probably more important than the date on the calendar.  You certainly want to make sure there is adequate moisture for germination, seedling emergence and growth.   Ryegrass should be seeded at about 10-15 pounds per acre if planted with other forages.  If planted alone, seeding rate is 20-30 pounds per acre.  Cereal grains are sown at 60-90 pounds if in a mixture and 90-120 if planted alone. 

Cattle grazing studies show that oats are more palatable than wheat, wheat is more palatable than rye, and rye is more palatable than barley.  Horses would most likely follow that same preference pattern.  Oats, although maybe the most nutritious and delicious, may not survive our winters.  They are less cold tolerant than some of the other species.  So, planting more than one species may lessen the risk in case it’s a cold winter.

A forage trial plot was planted in Person County, NC last fall.  In addition to some fescue and orchard grass varieties, there were three different types of winter annuals planted to evaluate growth and nutritional value.  Those species included oats, wheat and triticale.  

Although no animals actually grazed the annuals, samples were taken two different times and sent to a laboratory in New York to be analyzed.  The data was averaged and the results are listed below:

Samples taken April 4, 2016

	Adj. CP	TDN	RFQ
Oats	24.6	69	240
Wheat	27.3	68.8	135
Tritacale	24.9	65.3	160.8

Samples taken April 29, 2016

	Adj. CP	TDN	RFQ
Oats	13.7	66.3	205.6
Wheat	12.9	65.8	194.3
Tritacale	12.1	61.5	175

Now, for some definitions:

Adj. CP – Adjusted Crude Protein - crude protein measures the nitrogen content of a feedstuff, including both true protein and non-protein nitrogen.  Adjusted crude protein has been corrected for protein that may not be available to the animal for use.  Protein is a major component of vital organs, tissue, muscle, hair, skin, milk and enzymes and is required on a daily basis for maintenance, lactation, growth and reproduction.

TDN – Total Digestible Nutrients – a measure of energy; is calculated/not measured

RFQ – Relative Forage Quality – a forage quality term that is used to rank forages based on their nutritive value.  This ranking is made relative to the typical nutritive value of full bloom alfalfa hay.  So a ranking above 100 means the forage is better than typical full bloom alfalfa hay.  A ranking below 100 indicates forage is of lower quality than full bloom alfalfa hay.

From the numbers, you can see there is not a lot of difference in protein or TDN values for each of the sampling dates.  The biggest difference is there is a noticeable decline in protein between the two sampling dates.  Which should be expected – as forages mature, quality typically decreases.  Energy also declined between the two dates, but not as significantly as protein.  As for the RFQ, there was some variance between the three species on each sampling date, but probably not enough to make a big difference. 

Planting winter annuals may be a practice to consider so that you can graze horse farther into the winter after the usual fescue and orchard grasses have gone dormant.  It can save on feeding costs and may help improve pasture/soil health through the addition of organic matter and nutrients from manure.

A cereal grain that was planted October 23, 2015.  Picture taken on April 4, 2016.  ~19 inches of growth.