Small Grain Forage Options For This Fall
Planting annual forages in the fall can help alleviate a lack of forage in dry years, rest perennial pastures, and provide high-quality forage during a time of the year when forage is limited and forage quality is very low in perennial pastures. This year, only 28% of the state is listed as drought-free, with around 53% in the moderate-to-severe drought categories. Additionally, some areas of the state may be faced with needing to replace native pasture with annual forages following the early 2026 wildfires. Meeting forage needs outside of summer grazing can be challenging, even in normal years. This challenge is even greater when summer pasture productivity is reduced, and forage supplies are low. Currently, forage supplies are mostly adequate, although some regions of the state are short. Fall-planted small grain forages can provide a profitable forage option high in crude protein and energy when in their vegetative stage. Forages can be terminated in early spring, allowing time to plant a summer row crop if soil moisture is adequate.
Small Grain Forages
There are several common small grain options for forage: spring oats, spring triticale, winter wheat, winter barley, winter cereal rye, and winter triticale. Each option has strengths and weaknesses.
Spring oats
Spring oats are usually planted in late February or March in Kansas. However, spring oats can also be planted in late August through late September and will produce much more fall forage compared to other fall-planted small-grain forages before a killing freeze. Spring oats do not need to vernalize before heading, so they will develop rapidly in the fall if they have enough moisture and fertility and may even head out before termination by the first hard freeze in the mid-20 degree F range. In most years, however, spring oats will not have time to produce viable grain. In very mild winters, much of the fall-planted spring oats might survive the winter in southern Kansas.
Spring oats can be utilized in the fall for either hay or grazing. Spring oats can be ready to graze 6 to 8 weeks after planting with adequate moisture and after a good crown root system has developed. Under good conditions, spring oats can produce up to 1 to 2 tons of forage per acre, but as planting is delayed past mid-September, expect less tonnage. Spring oats are not very drought-tolerant and will not establish well nor grow well if the soil is very dry. Rye, triticale, or barley are more drought-tolerant than spring oats.
Spring oats can also be planted in a mixture with a winter small grain. The spring small grain can increase fall biomass, and the winter small grain will overwinter and produce forage in the spring. Winter small grain biomass production might be less than if planted alone, but the combination of oat and winter small grain biomass will likely be higher than winter small grain planted alone. If a mixture is used, plant oats at a 50% seeding rate and the winter small grain at a 100% seeding rate.
Spring triticale
Like oats, spring triticale can be planted in the fall or spring. Spring triticale tends to have better heat and drought tolerance than oats. A drawback of triticale is that many varieties have awns, which, if fed as baled feed, can result in lump jaw in cattle. The risk of nitrates is slightly less in triticale than in spring oats.
Winter wheat
Wheat is often used for grazing and grain in so-called “dual-purpose” systems (Figure 1). These systems are usually balanced between getting good forage and good grain yields without maximizing yields on either side. Dual-purpose wheat is typically planted at least two to three weeks earlier than wheat planted for grain only to maximize forage production (i.e., tillering) in winter wheat. In addition, producers wanting both grazing and grain should use a higher-than-normal seeding rate (90-120 pounds of seed per acre) and increase the N rate by 30 pounds per acre for every 1,000 pounds per acre of dry matter forage yield.
Figure 1. Cattle grazing on a wheat field. Photo courtesy of Great Plains Grazing.
Producers who need more pasture than normal can plant even earlier, at the likely expense of lower grain yields. Extremely early wheat planting windows are subject to many risks: wheat streak mosaic, barley yellow dwarf, Hessian fly, grasshopper damage, fall armyworm, planting into hot soils (and consequent shortened coleoptile length), and common root rot. When cattle prices are more favorable in the spring, wheat can also be grazed out, foregoing grain yield altogether. Wheat usually produces most of its forage in late fall and early winter and again in the spring. There are differences among varieties in how much fall forage is produced. Grow an awnless variety if planning on grazing the wheat out.
For more information on dual-purpose wheat, please refer to the Kansas State University Extension publication, “Managing wheat for forage and grain: the dual-purpose system.” Please refer to the publication “Dual-Purpose Wheat Variety Performance 2025” (https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/item/dual-purpose-wheat-variety-performance-2025_MF3312) to compare wheat variety performance under grain-only versus dual-purpose systems.
Winter barley
New, improved varieties of winter barley are available with better winterhardiness, especially under grazing, and able to produce more forage than older varieties. Barley produces palatable growth rapidly in the fall under favorable conditions. It is considered superior to other cereals for fall and early winter pasture, but wheat, triticale, and rye provide better late winter and spring grazing. Barley has excellent drought and heat tolerance. Winter barley forage is typically the most palatable of the small grain cereals, and feed quality is the highest, although barley tonnage is usually less than triticale or rye.
Winter rye
Rye establishes fall pasture quickly and regrows rapidly in late winter and early spring. However, rye becomes “stemmy” and unpalatable earlier in the spring than other cereals. Since rye is less palatable and higher in fiber than wheat or barley, cattle gains during grazing are normally greater on oat, wheat, triticale, and barley pasture than on rye pasture. Rye is the hardiest of the small grain cereals for overall tolerance to drought, heat, winterkill, and poor soil conditions. Rye has greater regrowth potential than other cool-season crop options. Prevention of rye going to seed is critical to limit volunteer issues in winter wheat.
Winter triticale
Triticale, a cross between wheat and rye, possesses the toughness of rye and the quality closer to that of wheat, although some dairy operations also disfavor triticale due to greater “steammyness”. It can be grazed much harder than wheat and still recover to produce grain. Triticale and rye are not susceptible to wheat streak mosaic and are not as much of a host for the wheat curl mite as volunteer wheat, but can still serve as a host for the mite to infest neighboring wheat fields. Planting too early in the fall increases the risk of triticale acting as a green bridge for wheat streak mosaic virus, and of infestations of grasshopper and fall armyworm feeding in the fall, hessian fly, barley yellow dwarf, and root rot. Planting triticale (Figure 2) or rye earlier in the fall increases the amount of fall forage available compared to winter wheat. Triticale has longer effective spring grazing than rye but not as long as wheat. Depending on the variety, winter triticale will head later than rye, so that the forage can remain higher in quality later into the spring. Heading date for all winter cereals should be considered if spring grazing is the goal.
Figure 2. Cattle grazing on a triticale research field. Photo courtesy of Dr. John Holman, K-State Research and Extension.
Small Grain Pasture Management
As planting dates get later, producers will get more fall forage production from triticale and rye than from wheat. The later it gets, the more rye becomes the best option for fall forage needs. More information on the relative pasture production of small grain cereals can be found in this K-State Research and Extension publication: https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/mf1072.pdf. It may help to identify the right forage or complementary forages to fill the gap in the system.
Cool-season forages are fairly susceptible to atrazine, so if producers plan on planting forages this fall after corn or sorghum, there is a risk of herbicide carryover that can kill seedlings.
When planting a small grain cereal primarily for forage, use a seeding rate about 50-100 percent higher than if the crop were grown for grain. In western Kansas and under dry soil conditions, a seeding rate of 1.5 bushels per acre is recommended. In eastern Kansas or under irrigation, a seeding rate near 2 bushels per acre is recommended. The planting depth for these grains should still be between 1.5 to 2 inches. Spring oats and spring triticale should be seeded at the rate of 2 to 3 bushels (64 to 96 pounds) per acre. When planting a small grain cereal for grazing purposes, increase N rates by about 30 to 50 pounds per acre. To determine the actual amount of additional N needed, the following formula can be used:
Additional lbs N/acre = (number of animals/acre) x (lbs of weight gain/animal) x 0.4
In a graze-out program, all the N may be applied in the fall. However, split applications will reduce the chances of having a problem with nitrate toxicity. In addition, there may be excess N in the fall from failed summer crops, so producers should use caution when applying N without a profile N soil test.
Of the cool-season crop options, oats have the most risk for high nitrates. Depending on the forage potential and if no excess nitrogen is available in the soil, about 30 to 70 pounds of nitrogen (N) per acre will be adequate. Avoid overapplying N and make sure soils are adequate in sulfur (S) and phosphorus (P) to reduce the risk of high nitrates.
Under good growing conditions, a well-fertilized small grain dryland pasture can carry about 500 pounds of cattle per acre. Under poor growing conditions, stocking rates should be reduced considerably. Cattle gains of 1.5 to 2.5 or more pounds per acre per day are possible during periods of good pasture production. Under irrigation, with intensive management, much higher stocking rates can be attained.
Grazing Management
Fall grazing management is critical to the success of small grain pastures. Begin grazing about 6 to 8 weeks following planting when the plants are well rooted and tillered.. If the foliage is too tall when the animals are introduced, or if the crop is overgrazed, then the plants will be more susceptible to winterkill. The minimum stubble height should be about 3 to 4 inches, ensuring some green leaves remain below the grazing level. Rye has a more upright growth pattern than most wheat varieties, so it should not be grazed as low. Winter barley is more susceptible to winterkill than rye or wheat. However, newer varieties of barley are exhibiting increased winter hardiness.
Forage Quality Considerations
Overall, in hay forage quality, barley is the highest, followed by oats, wheat, triticale, and finally rye. Regardless of type, the small grain forage quality while in the vegetative stage is more than sufficient for any grazing animal. During the fall and early spring periods of peak production, the crude protein content of small grain pasture is normally about 20-25%. Growing cattle requires about 12% crude protein; thus, no protein supplements are necessary.
However, small grain pastures can cause bloat. Daily supplementation with poloxalene (Bloat Guard) is highly effective at reducing bloat and is available in various feeding forms. Feeding high-quality grass hay, silage, and/or an ionophore such as Rumensin or Bovatec can also protect against bloat. Rumensin and Bovatec have also been shown to increase stocker cattle weight gains on wheat pasture.
Cows with high milk production grazing in small grain pastures in the spring can experience grass tetany. To prevent this, provide a mineral supplement containing magnesium. Cattle should be started on the mineral two weeks before to mitigate the risk of grass tetany.
John Holman, Cropping Systems Agronomist, Southwest Research-Extension Center
jholman@ksu.edu
Romulo Lollato, Wheat and Forages Specialist
lollato@ksu.edu
Tina Sullivan, Northeast Area Agronomist
tsullivan@ksu.edu