News : Field Day planned at Welter farm

With the weather we’ve had this year, any additional grazing will have a big impact on the cost of wintering cows in Iowa. Cereal rye grain seeded in the early fall is one option to extend the grazing season and reduce feed costs in the beef herd. A field day to demonstrate grazing cereal rye will be held on Friday, November 12, at 1:00 pm at the Welter farm north of Onslow.

Al Welter has been seeding cereal rye in the fall following corn chopping for many years. Winter seeded rye provides ground cover throughout the winter and early spring to prevent soil erosion, as well as feed for the late fall and early winter. Rye also provides early spring grazing allowing cows and calves to move out of dry lots sooner in the spring and reduces the need for stored feed until typical pasture turn-out in May.

The field day will begin at 1:00 pm with Welter sharing his many years of experience with grazing rye. Denise Schwab, ISU Extension Beef Specialist, will discuss forage quality from 2010 and other winter feeding issues. The field day will be held one mile south and ¼ mile east of the Welter Seed plant on Hwy 136 north of Onslow.

This same 70 acre field was seeded with rye in the fall of 2009, at a cost of about $62/ acre for seed, equipment and labor. Despite the poor fall weather, it produced 900 cow grazing days in the fall and another 3330 cow grazing days in the spring. This calculated to about $1.31 feed cost per cow per day, which is much lower than conventional drylot hay feeding programs. Last month both cereal rye and oats were drilled into this field, along with a few strips of turnips.

This event is weather dependent so be sure to check before driving if field conditions are questionable.

For more information on the field day, contact Iowa State Extension beef specialist Denise Schwab at 319-472-4739 or dschwab@iastate.edu.

The Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, was established in 1996 with the goal of supporting the growth and vitality of the state’s beef cattle industry. It serves as the university’s extension program to cattle producers and is comprised of faculty and staff from ISU Extension and the colleges of agriculture and life sciences and veterinary medicine. Together, the Iowa Beef Center’s members work to develop and deliver the latest in research based information regarding the beef cattle industry. For more information about the Iowa Beef Center, visit www.iowabeefcenter.org.