Heavy rain, hail and damaging winds through the growing season resulted in crop damage in some areas.
Murray Feist is a Ruminant Nutrition Specialist with Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture.
He says some producers are looking to utilize the damaged crops as feed but should look at getting the feed tested.
"Those kind of crops can be used for greenfeed and can be bailed up for cattle feed but there would be some particulars around that. The stage of maturity of these crops will play into the feed quality and feed management."
If you’re looking at baling or cutting hail damaged crops for greenfeed, you need to be aware of the potential increase in nitrate levels as Feist explains.
"Different crops will have different levels of risk when it comes to nitrates. At the end of the day we are really looking at having a feed test on quality to give us some sense not only of what the protein might be and the energy might be, but also doing a test to make sure you include the nitrates just to make sure we can tie that off and measure out whether that feed needs to be diluted as part of the diet or how we need to manage that feed."
Source : Discoverestevan