One of the most important factors is to avoid grazing when soil is wet or soft to limit trampling. This might be accomplished best by having an adjacent pasture or corn stalk field to turn animals into whenever the ground gets wet.
If you can adjust your animals so they only graze wheat when it’s dry, the next step is to avoid grazing too severely. Make sure animals don’t graze the wheat any shorter than three inches when grazing either in the fall or spring. This will enable your wheat plants to always have enough leaf area and tillers to use sunlight to support plant growth and health.
Also, be sure you have provided adequate fertility for the wheat crop. Plants that are starved for nutrients will yield even less if they are stressed by grazing.
Finally, stop grazing next spring as soon as wheat plants begin to joint. Jointing occurs when plant stems begin to elongate and form nodes, or thickened areas, on the stems. In Nebraska this usually happens in April, but temperature, fertility, and variety will affect the exact date each year. Protect a small area from grazing so you can easily examine plants to determine when jointing occurs in your field. Follow these guidelines and you, too, can have your grain and a pasture, too.
Bruce Anderson
Extension Forage Specialist
| CropWatch |
| CW Archives |
|
 | ||
| Published by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Cooperating with the counties and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. | ||
| The University of Nebraska-Lincoln does not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, veteran's status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation. | ||