By John O’Connell
An ongoing University of Idaho Extension trial shows early promise for east-central Idaho farmers and ranchers hoping to raise two forage crops from a single field within the region’s short growing season.
The trial is in its second growing season at U of I’s Nancy M. Cummings Research, Extension and Education Center in Salmon and will continue for another one to three years. Led by Extension beef specialist John Hall, the project entails planting fall triticale, swathing and baling it as hay in June, applying herbicide to prevent regrowth and then planting a multi-species cover crop mixture.
Cover crops are generally planted primarily for soil-health benefits — such as fixing nitrogen, improving soil porosity and boosting soil organic matter — and often offer the farmer no direct commercial benefit. Hall and his colleagues, however, chose to graze their cover crops in the fall, prior to planting another triticale crop, to capture the value of the forage, while also returning nutrients and minerals to the soil through cow manure.
Source : uidaho.edu