Study looks for frost-resistant crops to extend grazing season  

     Extending the grazing season in the Klamath Basin could save ranchers money on hay and alfalfa typically fed to animals beginning around Thanksgiving.

   But many traditional annual crops used for forage don’t tolerate frost well, which is essential to make them practical for Basin farmers and ranchers.

   Frost can occur during any month in the Basin, but fall is a critical time.

   A trial being conducted at the Oregon State University Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center aims to identify annual crops that could be planted after grain harvests in the Basin and provide additional forage for animals into the fall and keep farmers’ land earning money.  

   The trial

   Forage researcher Chanda Engel planted winter triticale, turnips, kale, radishes, rape and a few crossbreeds to determine which crop will provide the best nutrition and yield after a smallgrain harvest.

   “If this is cheaper than buying hay and feeding, then this would be a viable option,” Engel said. “It’s hard to know the economic return until you grow them.”

   Engel’s study is funded by the Oregon Beef Council, and began with a September planting date last year.

   This year, Engel planted at the end of July, mid-August and the beginning of September to get a feel for how much forage can be available after a small grain hay harvest and a harvest for grain. The forage crops followed a grain harvest in the test plots.

   “It’s not a new concept. Years ago, people used to plant turnips and graze them,” Engel said.

   Inspired by another trial at the research station into cover crops, Engel was impressed with the amount of leafy material the plants, mostly brassicas, put on.

   Plants are frost-hardy

   The plants also proved to be frost-hardy. Engel said she harvested some of the leaves in the test field at 60 days this year.

   A hard frost was still on the leaves at 8 a.m. during the last round, when she went to harvest the tops of   the plants, and the leaves were brittle, she said.

   “After it warmed up, they were supple,” she said, showing the plants could survive a hard frost.

   Engel then dries the   tops in an oven to allow for equal comparison of dry matter. Since the plants carry a lot of moisture, drying them ensures Engel is getting an accurate measure of yield. The possible fall forages are highly   nutritious too, she said.

   Engel will stretch her funding as far as it will go.

   “I’m hoping to be able to have enough (funding) to look at the nutritional quality of what I’ve done and repeat the study next year,” she said.

   Possible future trial

   A possible future trial could include growing the annuals as cover crops to help suppress nematodes and as a grazing material at the same time.

   “(Animals) first will eat the tops, then they’ll eat the bulbs,” Engel said, making it possible to allow animals to graze the tops while still leaving the bulbs in place.

   “We’re not sure whether the root alone has enough suppression. Those are some future thoughts.”