Brice Bultje
Charles Mix County, South DakotaMentor
We baled several hundred acres of rye this month that we planted last fall, intending to combine, but with the drought last fall, late spring, early heat and the harsh winter, we made the determination it was not worth leaving for combining and like you, Bryce, we went through almost 3 years worth of hay, so need to stockpile the hay-yards again. We plan on getting the bales moved and re-planted to warm season cover crops next week. We had fertilized fairly heavy, the rye early this spring before a big rain, and with the amount of growth we got we think we are safe for nitrates, but we were going to test to make sure. But thinking there should be enough left in the soil to feed the cover crop mix of super sugar sudan, sorghum, pearl millet, proso millet, rapeseed, purple top turnips, okra, soybeans, common vetch, and hairy vetch. Some fields we plan on doing a strictly grass blend( super sugar, sorghum, millet), hoping to hay again in August.
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I have done that after grazing the rye. It wasn't nearly as robust as the same mix planted as a full season cover, but when I considered how much rye biomass was grazed off in addition to the second crop it was substantial. Myix is similar to Van's. 15 sorghum Sudan, 5 pearl millet, 5 German hay millet. 1/2 lb turnip and 3/4 radish. Add dwarf Essex rapeseed, yellow blossom clover, small grains etc to suit your taste.
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