# Annual rye grass.



## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Looking at the option of seeding about 30 acres to annual rye grass. This is one kind of grass I have never grown before. Look at things like seeding rate. How long does it take to go from seed till its time to cut. Will it grow in high ph soil. Ph is around 8. Any help would be thankful.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I've planted a lot of it mostly as cover crop to alfalfa/ or alf/ grass.Some of it on ground as high as 8.5 ph.High ph didn't bother it.Alone I'd seed 10-20 lbs.It likes N 40-60 lbs per cutting if you want hay.It does like moisture and if dry yields suffer.Usually ready to cut around 50 days after seeding,and cut every 30-40 days after that.

I've done at least 5000 acres myself over the yrs @ 8 lbs.Done some up to 20 alone and it makes for finer hay.

Annual ryegrass is hard to get dry it has waxy surface.It should be laid out flat and not in windrow or tedded would be better yet.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

swmnhay said:


> Annual ryegrass is hard to get dry it has waxy surface.It should be laid out flat and not in windrow or tedded would be better yet.


Sounds like a good candidate for impellar(flail) conditoners.

Regards, MIke


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Vol said:


> Sounds like a good candidate for impellar(flail) conditoners.
> 
> Regards, MIke


Yes it is,I did run impellers one yr and they did work better in grass.Unfortunatly not wort a crap in alfalfa.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

When would the rye grass be planted?

Our seasons are different and I am learning how rye grass works there.

Here we drill rye grass in the early fall and graze during the winter. A friend drills his hay fields, grazes during the winter and spring, pulls the cows off once normal grazing gets going, then bales the ryegrass for hay.

There is a lot of ryegrass baled here in May. The horse people tend to buy it to tide them over until the Bermuda hay is ready. Ryegrass plays out here around June.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I am thinking around here it would be planted in may sometime. Was just looking online and in my area Italian rye grass is considered an annual crop too.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I plant it in early May usually.Its a annual HERE and winter kills.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I've always planted in fall, grazed it and baled in the spring. Like swmnhay said, it likes N and moisture. Hope for a nice dry period when you bale it, use a conditioner and run your tedder daily. Around here, it's hard to get it dry, but with decent growth, you can make some baler-choking windrows.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Down here in the near desert of N Texas ryegrass in Coastal fields has been known to severely stunt & thin the Coastal stand


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

True here near Temple Jim Man.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Faster drying with a wide swath.

Some where one of the Forage Specialist told us that hay out full width will dry faster then in a windrow. That was even true putting the hay out on damp soil.

Should say fortunately for me I can not mow when the ground is damp as the tires will mud up horribly HERE when damp. His contention was the full width swath will stand up on the stubble while the weight of the windrow will put the hay down on the muddy ground.

HERE we can not pull a ground drive rake in a wet field as the tires will mud up and not turn.

Had an East Texas forage specialist tell us if the hay is ready to cut, cut it even in the rain.

That probably is possible at Overton Research Center in East Texas, but he missed the idea it is better to cut when the sun is shining.

We want the leaves to be dried to 40% moisture before dark. ( Stops respiration yield and quality losses! )


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

What yields per acre can be expected from rye grass??


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Here I see up to 5 rolls an acre 4x6 and around 1150lbs.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

I believe annual ryegrass is area specific. there was a time if you walked into any of the local seed dealers theyd have 5 to 10 skids of that stuff sitting in the shed. Now you are lucky if you can find anybody that stocks it in the area.many assumed it would have the durability of cereal rye and it does not in this area. if you plant it year in and year out half the time it will be a failure the other half the time it will be terrific that reliability is not good enough for me. with our climate it would only be forage you would never get it dry enough to bale. on our farm we never liked it as a companion crop to start alfalfa either. the county agency in this area once said true Italian ryegrass should be classified as a weed. that is our experience and I'm sure there are many other areas where annual ryegrass would be a good choice.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

endrow said:


> I believe annual ryegrass is area specific. there was a time if you walked into any of the local seed dealers theyd have 5 to 10 skids of that stuff sitting in the shed. Now you are lucky if you can find anybody that stocks it in the area.many assumed it would have the durability of cereal rye and it does not in this area. if you plant it year in and year out half the time it will be a failure the other half the time it will be terrific that reliability is not good enough for me. with our climate it would only be forage you would never get it dry enough to bale. on our farm we never liked it as a companion crop to start alfalfa either. the county agency in this area once said true Italian ryegrass should be classified as a weed. that is our experience and I'm sure there are many other areas where annual ryegrass would be a good choice.


Here I would consider Italian ryegrass a pest best dealt with by pesticides.......unfortunately once spring green up of Bermuda grass starts the options are limited for controlling it....... I'm not sure whether to embrace it or attack it, with the wet weather we had this year, we couldn't get in the fields to spray before green up, so I guess we will embrace it and bale it, terrible to dry down but yields are low as this is all volunteer grass...er....Weed


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

somedevildawg said:


> Here I would consider Italian ryegrass a pest best dealt with by pesticides.......unfortunately once spring green up of Bermuda grass starts the options are limited for controlling it....... I'm not sure whether to embrace it or attack it, with the wet weather we had this year, we couldn't get in the fields to spray before green up, so I guess we will embrace it and bale it, terrible to dry down but yields are low as this is all volunteer grass...er....Weed


Dang Dawg what type of pesticides will control Italian Ryegrass. I've spray my Coastal with a herbicide(glyphosate) to control ryegrass.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I am going to dangerously assume what we call "wild rye grass" is really Italian rye grass. If so, it does not produce like the rye grass we intentionally plant here. On the really good producing bermuda fields it is not uncommon for folks here to spray it with gly before the bermuda green up.

As far as ryegrass goes we plant Marshall rue grass here. It is more cold hardy than the other rye grass types we have tried. We are grazing one head per acre on the rye grass now. We put 250 lbs of nitrogen per acre earlier in the week. I do not bale any of our's, just graze it until the perennial grasses can carry the load.



Lewis Ranch said:


> Here I see up to 5 rolls an acre 4x6 and around 1150lbs.


This is what the guys around here also get.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Tim/South said:


> I am going to dangerously assume what we call "wild rye grass" is really Italian rye grass. If so, it does not produce like the rye grass we intentionally plant here. On the really good producing bermuda fields it is not uncommon for folks here to spray it with gly before the bermuda green up.
> As far as ryegrass goes we plant Marshall rue grass here. It is more cold hardy than the other rye grass types we have tried. We are grazing one head per acre on the rye grass now. We put 250 lbs of nitrogen per acre earlier in the week. I do not bale any of our's, just graze it until the perennial grasses can carry the load.
> 
> This is what the guys around here also get.


That's what we do, best to spray in the leafy stage, 1qt per acre, once it's in boot gly doesn't seem to do much and Bermuda is starting to green up anyway. If you miss it ya just have to embrace it....or rotary mow


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

I don't have a problem with rye grass in my fields. We cut them in early May when you have a little coastal and it makes good hay... I do agree it hurts you stand of coastal but I'm not spending the money to kill it when there isn't nothing wrong with it.


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

Colby said:


> I don't have a problem with rye grass in my fields. We cut them in early May when you have a little coastal and it makes good hay... I do agree it hurts you stand of coastal but I'm not spending the money to kill it when there isn't nothing wrong with it.


A little rye grass in bermuda isn't to bad and as long as you cut it before it seeds then it will always remain just a little but if you let it get to thick it will choke out a good bermuda pasture. I have a few spots right now that it got to thick and choked out the bermuda so this year I am going to shred those area's early so as to let the bermuda get going again.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Now I just came back from town and I ordered enough rye grass seed to do 30 acres. Now we are just trying to figure out a fertilizer program for the stand.

be the first time growing this crop so it will be interesting.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

swmnhay said:


> I plant it in early May usually.Its a annual HERE and winter kills.


if you plant it in May when do you harvest it how many time?s Do you plant another crop in the same season or is rye grass is the only crop you plant in that acreage for the year.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

endrow said:


> if you plant it in May when do you harvest it how many time?s Do you plant another crop in the same season or is rye grass is the only crop you plant in that acreage for the year.


Depending when I get planted and how much rain I get but should get 3 cuttings if get plenty of rain.It does stall out if it gets dry.I usually have it underseeded with alfalfa.

1st cut around 45 days after seeding and every 30 days after that.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

swmnhay said:


> Depending when I get planted and how much rain I get but should get 3 cuttings if get plenty of rain.It does stall out if it gets dry.I usually have it underseeded with alfalfa.
> 
> Do you fertilize after each cutting?
> 
> 1st cut around 45 days after seeding and every 30 days after that.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

if you were to plant it alone and wanted to maximize tonnage you could add some N to each cutting.

it likes N and water.Good heavy soil also,


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Down here in Texas one cutting of ryegrass per year is all we can expect. Ryegrass turns brown here in about mid June


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

What Jim said... ryegrass is considered a winter annual here... fall planted... when the heat arrives, it goes bye-bye in rapid order...

Later! OL JR


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

Here's a hybrid variety of ryegrass called "Maximus" broadcasted it in a small trap pasture in September and fertilized it 1 time in November and this is the result as of today. The only way my dog would walk in the stuff is when I threw my cup out there lol. She stands about 2 feet tall. 
I only wish I had planted 100 acres of this now after I've seen what it did this year. Are annual rye is week this year.


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## blainalbin (Jun 14, 2011)

How has the ryegrass worked out so far?


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## siscofarms (Nov 23, 2010)

Here in ky we use it with our native grasses . Kinda like you guys with your Bermuda . Its cheap . You can just broadcast it and it'll come up . Sometimes its hard to get up because of the window you need to cure it and the time of the year , mid spring , But it makes a lot of hay and around here we actually like the fact it burns out .


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

blainalbin said:


> How has the ryegrass worked out so far?


The ryegrass was not to bad. A little light from the drought. The problem was that the seed came in with green foxtail. Ended up with more green foxtail than ryegrass. The seed company says the ryegrass was clean but can not explain the perfect rows of green foxtail. Now the seed company is just ignoring me.


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## blainalbin (Jun 14, 2011)

That's too bad about the foxtail. Did you end up baling it? What yield did you get? Was it difficult to get dry? (I'm assuming not because of the drought). I'm considering planting some next spring but debating about either straight ryegrass for hay or ryegrass/field peas for grazing. I'm in Southern Ontario with a fair amount of humid weather and am a bit concerned about getting it dry for hay.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

My yield was 38, 900 pound bales of 33 acres baled 2 days after cutting. I cut it early tho to get the green foxtail before it would get tough and go to seed. In the few low spots in the field the ryegrass grew good, nice and thick. Any other place in the field was thin and short with more foxtail than ryegrass.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

hog987 said:


> TThe seed company says the ryegrass was clean but can not explain the perfect rows of green foxtail.


I've just seen that in a neighbor's new alfalfa field. My guess is that the drill disturbed the soil just right so that the foxtail on the ground was "planted" at the right depth.

Ralph


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> I've just seen that in a neighbor's new alfalfa field. My guess is that the drill disturbed the soil just right so that the foxtail on the ground was "planted" at the right depth.
> 
> Ralph


A seed drill will open the seed bank to some degree. Not as much as deep tillage but will activate some seeds.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> I've just seen that in a neighbor's new alfalfa field. My guess is that the drill disturbed the soil just right so that the foxtail on the ground was "planted" at the right depth.
> 
> Ralph


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hog, it would be very helpful to all if you started your replies "outside" of the quote box. Your reply could be interpreted as written by Ralph to the unsuspecting.

Mike


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> I've just seen that in a neighbor's new alfalfa field. My guess is that the drill disturbed the soil just right so that the foxtail on the ground was "planted" at the right depth.
> 
> Ralph


That is excally what the seed saleman said. My question than is why it followed the seed drill rows and not the cultivator or harrow rows from the day before that were a different direction than the seed rows?.

I can understand some weed pressure but not the whole field looking like I seeded the foxtail. It was my first time seeding ryegrass so was learning what it looks like. Also I dont have a huge problem with green foxtail and didnt know excally what it was till it started to head out. When it was small I almost thought there was a mix up on the seed cause two different types of grasses were growing. Plus a few oats that were mixed in the drill.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Some pics of the field

First picture is what it looked like when I cut it. The next two are what it looked like at a poor spot and a good spot when it was growing.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hog, thank you for the correction.

Mike


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Now that we are finally getting rain the regrowth on the ryegrass has been good. After cutting and baling I turned the cattle onto the field for two weeks to clean things up (plus a large slough/swamp area to eat). Cattle have been off the field now for 2.5 week and I just turned them back in. I almost have enough regrowth to equal what I cut and baled. Wow things grow when the rain comes.


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## blainalbin (Jun 14, 2011)

What was your stocking rate for that 2 week period of grazing?


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

After it was cut and baled I put 30 pairs and two bulls onto the field. With the problem with the foxtail I wanted the cattle to be hard on it. When I took the cattle of the first time was, it was just starting to rain. Since than we have had about 5 inches of rain.


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## socohay (Jul 21, 2015)

Going to bump this thread up with a question. Planted some annual rye grass into a thin stand of alfalfa in late March. Got an excellent stand, then unseasonable cool and wet weather since. Thinking I hit one over the fence but now wondering if too cool. No frost damage, but only about 4 to 5 inches tall. Will it jump with some heat units finally coming on?


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

socohay said:


> Going to bump this thread up with a question. Planted some annual rye grass into a thin stand of alfalfa in late March. Got an excellent stand, then unseasonable cool and wet weather since. Thinking I hit one over the fence but now wondering if too cool. No frost damage, but only about 4 to 5 inches tall. Will it jump with some heat units finally coming on?


Yes it should.Also it takes awhile for it to establish like most any grass.It's been growing it roots and now will take off.


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

Might hit it with some N. Ryegrass loves N...


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## socohay (Jul 21, 2015)

Glad to hear it! Thank you much. Was pretty hesitant to top dress N. Soil tests showed just enough N to make good yields. Would have been difficult to top dress so little anyway. I really enjoy and appreciate the openness and expertise of all the contributors on this site.
Thanks again


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I seeded some more ryegrass this year just over 2 weeks ago, just starting to come out of the ground. Since we had an unusually warm winter most of my annual ryegrass didn't die from last year. I seeded directly into the old stand, Finally we got some rain on the field. Hopping for a nice stand this year. Only my second year growing the stuff.


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