Learn about hybrid fall rye & winter barley from our trials

Harvest has lasted longer than we expected here with under 20% of our harvest left to go. I hope you are making progress with this difficult fall.
We still have about 400 ac of fall crops to seed and I often get questions from customers on how late can they seed? The recommended deadlines are Sept 20th for the central and north and September 30th for the South. If you seed later your crop will have slightly more risk for winter kill and be delayed slightly next season. If you chose to seed later you can increase your chances of a good crop by increasing seeding rates and or use seed treatments. All Winter crop needs to vernalize to produce heads next season is for the seed to swell.
Our hybrid fall rye & winter barley forage and grain yield trials have been compiled and we are happy to share the results below!

Forage Trials
We seeded 3 hybrid fall rye & 2 winter barley varieties. Notes on the trials:

• No fungicides used
• The crop was shorter than expected and stand ability was good
• The winter barley was not in the same area of the field as the hybrid fall rye so the results are not directly comparable vs the barley as this is not replicated so results are not scientific
• The field has some limitations on top end yield as we have had customers yield higher than these numbers
• Seeded 0.8 of a unit per ac for the rye (56-65 lbs per ac range in use rate) and 150 lbs per ac of the winter barley on Sept 20 2018
• Fertility: 350 lbs 46-0-0 spread on in spring,  80 lbs 11-52 with the seed in fall​

---

Forage Results For Hybrid Fall Rye & Winter Barley:

KWS Propower Hybrid Fall Forage Rye was the top yielding rye for forage and lower in moisture at silage timing compared to the others.
The KWS Higgins Winter Barley feed tests looked promising and yield looks strong. We are hoping to have the winter barley ready to sell pending some regulatory hoops to jump though. We have people putting their names on the list for next season already.

• For forage we clipped out small amounts and weighed and feed tested
• Forage data from July 6th (proper to slightly late timing for both)

---

Grain Yield

KWS Daniello Hybrid Fall Rye was the top variety although the plot yields did drop as it went East. Ergot risk was lowest in the KWS Daniello. 

• For grain we harvested, weighed and sampled. The barley had hail before harvest, (was ripe so seeds were knocked out) so grain yield numbers are not available
• Ergot risk in small grain plots is also higher because there is not as much pollen in field edges so these plots are similar to how much ergot may be in the outside edges of a field
• Thanks to P&H Vulcan for grading 4034852727

Let me know if you have any questions [email protected] 
Thanks,
Greg

---

New!
KWS Propower - Hybrid Fall Rye for silage & feed
KWS Propower is a hybrid fall rye owned by KWS and licensed to SeedNet

• Silage and forage use
  • ​Used in silage, grazing, feed & biogas
• Hybrid rye yield potential is 30-50% more than traditional rye varieties, it preforms well under stress
• Fast dry down for forage use to get in the field faster compared to other hybrids
  • Amazing potential on dry land​​ due to drought stress
  • KWS Propower will yield 5-15% above other hybrid fall rye lines in forage yield
• Strong straw for a rye, suitable for irrigation or dry land​
• Strong winter survivability
• PollenPlus for lower ergot risk

Click for hybrid grain rye: Daniello Hybrid fall rye info