Grasses
Black Oats (Cosaque)
Cosaque black oats offer several advantages over traditional oats, including superior nutritional value, digestibility, palatability, and a robust tillering capacity. They exhibit forage yields comparable to cereal rye and demonstrate good winter hardiness, often serving as a winter annual crop in southern regions. Notably, these oats thrive even in low-quality soils, contributing to soil restoration and enrichment due to their exceptional root system. A great fall grazing option across the U.S. and a great overwintering grass as you get south of Interstate-70.
from $0.36 per lb
-
Sorghum Sudan (Sweet Six Dry Stalk BMR)
Sweet Six Dry Stalk BMR is designed for use in haying or silage situations in non-arid environments. The stalk will shatter when harvested, helping to speed the dry down process. The BMR trait contributes to a highly digestible forage option for livestock.
from $1.70 per lb
-
Spring Forage Barley (Lavina) - Beardless
Barley has relatively low water usage compared to other cover crop species, especially during earlier growth stages. Under poor fertility conditions, barley would be a good choice and can help render P & K available for your next crop. Barley provides a good feed quality grain that can be harvested 2-3 weeks earlier than wheat which then allows your double crop/cover to be planted sooner.
from $0.36 per lb
-
Spring Oats (Rushmore)
Spring oats are an excellent choice for quick ground cover in the spring or fall. Rapid growth aids in stabilizing disturbed or bare soil from environmental conditions. Spring oats make a great addition to any spring grazing or forage mix providing ample tonnage for your livestock. Oats can be easily chemically terminated and fall plantings commonly winterkill. Residue from oats suppress winter annuals and protect the soil throughout the winter and will decompose rapidly in the spring. Allelopathic chemicals released by the decomposing residue suppress weed germination for a few weeks. The high quality oat forage is more palatable than rye or wheat. Also, oat is less prone to insect problems than either wheat or barley.
from $0.36 per lb
-
Annual Ryegrass (KB Supreme) - Diploid
Extending the grazing season while protecting and building the soil is a great benefit of this species. The biomass N content can range from 1.3-2.4% and varies depending on the amount of residual N left from the previous crop. Reports of annual ryegrass having the potential to scavenge up to 200 lbs of residual N/A/yr have been recorded. Ryegrass can be very successfully broadcast into established row crops. Winter killed ryegrass can still provide weed suppression, soil protection and trap residual N until spring. Ryegrass attracts very few pest insects that could pester the next crop. With lower needed seeding rates per acre means you will spend less of freight an your applicator can remain in the drill or in the air longer. I like the deep roots of annual ryegrass but when considering it for more northern area, it must be established prior to hard freezing in order to have the best chance of winter survival. keith@greencoverseed.com
from $1.00 per lb
-
Pearl Millet (Exceed BMR)
Pearl millet is among the best grazing or haying millet varieties. Exceed BMR Pearl Millet also offers the BMR trait allowing the animal to better digest the plant for optimal nutritional efficiency to the animal. Pearl millet is very adaptable to its growing environment with great tillering allowing for more forage and better ground coverage with less seed.
from $2.40 per lb
-
Meadow Brome
Meadow brome is a bunchgrass resembling smooth brome but behaving more like orchard grass, only with more drought tolerance. Like orchard grass, it has good regrowth and is one of the better grasses for stockpiling in winter, though it is still distinctly inferior to fescue for that purpose.
from $4.55 per lb
-
Sorghum Sudan (XtraGraze BMR)
Xtra Graze BMR is a basic BMR sorghum sudangrass. This highly digestible forage sorghum sudan is great for forage situations, where no additional sorghum sudan traits are needed.
from $1.40 per lb
-
Annual Ryegrass (Ranahan) - Tetraploid
Annual ryegrass stands out as a captivating and remarkable grass within the realm of cover crops. It offers a plethora of advantages, including winter grazing, impressive yields, and an often underrated impact on breaking through compacted soils. Notably, tetraploid ryegrass boasts rapid establishment, extended and broader leaves, but that comes with a reduced cold tolerance when compared to its diploid annual ryegrass.
from $1.15 per lb
-
Intermediate Wheatgrass
Intermediate wheatgrass is probably the most productive of the western grasses, relatively equal to orchard grass, tall fescue, or smooth brome in yield potential, with much more drought tolerance. It is a strong bunchgrass and tends to lose quality upon maturity.
from $3.25 per lb
-
Festulolium (SugarCrest)
SugarCrest Festulolium is a perennial ryegrass crossed with meadow fescue. This grass exhibits superior forage quality, winter-hardiness, drought tolerance, and excellent seedling vigor. This is a great option for anyone looking for a high yielding, high quality forage. Learn more about SugarCrest Festulolium here.
from $7.10 per lb
-
Timothy Grass (Carson)
Timothy grass has excellent palatability while vegetative. It is an excellent species to use for hay, especially for horses. Though many varieties lack drought, heat, and grazing tolerance, Carson timothy is an improved variety and can be added to any cool season pasture.
from $3.20 per lb
