After a dry start to 2025, maybe you’re thinking of sowing a winter fodder crop to ensure you have enough feed to get your livestock through winter. There are many considerations when deciding what species or mix you will sow.  With the two key growth drivers being moisture and temperature as we move towards winter.

Consideration 1 – When do you need the feed? 

Species and varieties differ in the time it takes for them to reach grazing maturity. For quick winter feed, species such as ryecorn, even when sown late, will be the quickest option. The important consideration with ryecorn is that the number of grazings is lower than other species, and it is quick to turn reproductive and decline in quality in spring. In the Drought Rebuilders trial at the SFS Rokewood site in 2024, forage cereals such as barley and oats were the best performers for quick feed. They also have the option of being cut for hay or taken through to harvest.

If you need more feed in spring, species such as Italian and annual ryegrasses are a good option. Adding these to a ryecorn mix will extend the grazing window through spring.

Consideration 2 – Time of sowing 

Whilst temperatures are warm, forage brassicas such as rape or turnips performed best when sown early.  As we head into May, species such as annual or Italian ryegrasses, oats and ryecorn will perform better than others when sown late. In the 2024 trial, sowing earlier rather than late saw fewer plants established but more dry matter produced due to the early, established plants having more growth before temperatures dropped.

Consideration 3 – Paddock end use 

What is the end goal after sowing a winter feed? Will you need a hay contractor organised for spring? Will you need to spring sow something into it, such as a brassica, to turn it into a summer crop? Is it going to sit bare over summer? These are just some of the questions to think about when planning on sowing winter feed.

Other considerations include: the difference in feed quality of each species over the season, the grazing preferences of livestock with species mixes and the cost of sowing feed vs buying in supplementary feed.

The Drought Rebuilder trial in 2024 looked at what species or species mixes provided the quickest feed after a late autumn break, or coming out of a drought, to fatten livestock. This was then extended to what species or mixes provided the highest quality and quantity of feed. To read more about SFS’s Drought Rebuilder trial results from 2024, visit the SFS website https://sfs.org.au/resource/forage-mixes-providing-the-quickest-winter-feed-following-two-sowing-timings-2024-sfs-trial-report

This trial is part of the Meat & Livestock Australia, Innovative Mixed Farming Project, which is continuing in 2025.