ONE OPTION for growers with drought-hit cereals, could be to ‘cut your losses’ and consider turning them in to field early by crimping or making silage out of them.

It looks like grain fill is already being compromised by severe drought in some areas with very light land so is there a credible alternative?

While some winter barley may have already been harvested, winter wheat, and some spring-sown crops – many of which were drilled late and then hit by a cold, wet spring – are now suffering from further stress in the heat.

“For every day without rain and with continued high temperatures, the grain harvest gets smaller and smaller,” pointed out Andy Strzelecki, technical director with feed preservation specialists, Kelvin Cave. “If growers leave their crops in the ground until full maturity, they could be harvesting little more than budgie seed!”

He advised producers to consider harvesting at the earliest opportunity, and while the grain is ‘firm and cheesy’.

“Cereals harvested at this stage – usually between 25% and 45% moisture – can be preserved easily by crimping and the earlier harvest will minimise disease losses, shrivelling and loss of grain,” he said.

“In any year, crimping produces a higher dry matter yield per hectare than a dry harvest because it avoids these losses, but in conditions like those we are seeing this summer, the relative benefit of the earlier harvest will be even greater,” he argued.

Crimping involves rolling early-harvested cereals through a crimper to expose the carbohydrate and protein, and the application of a preservative. It is then clamped, consolidated and sheeted, in much the same way as silage, and requires little specialist equipment for most producers.

“A further advantage is that crimped cereals are safer to feed in quantity to ruminants than dried rolled grain, and they also result in better performance,” said Mr Strzelecki.

He said growers should consider crimping where they are able to use or sell their grain as concentrate feed. However, in some instances, a better option could be to turn cereal crops into wholecrop silage.

“The choice will depend on each farm’s circumstances, the severity of the drought and the amount of forage in store,” he pointed out. “Many livestock producers started this season with completely depleted forage reserves and – while they may have taken reasonable first and second cuts of grass silage – they are seeing little regrowth for either grazing or subsequent silage cuts.

“If they are in this position, it may be more of a priority to replenish stocks of forage, so a preferred option could be to make wholecrop silage.

“Whichever option is taken, the key objective should be to harvest cereals before the continued drought wipes more from the farm’s bottom line,” he said.

Why crimp grain:

Maximises nutrient value, digestibility and dry matter yield/ha

Enables earlier harvest at peak nutritional value

The process is simple – crimp, ensile, feed

No drying or specialist storage is required

Allows early establishment of follow-on crops

Reduces grain loss in the field

Harvest is less weather-dependent

Turns home-grown moist cereals into quality, digestible and palatable concentrate feed

Improves animal performance over dry-rolled cereals

Safer to feed in quantity to ruminants than dry-rolled cereals

Wholecrop silage tips:

Ideally harvest at a dry matter (DM) of 35-45%

A grain-processor in the forage harvester is essential

Treatment with a proven, effective preservative will minimise fermentation and aerobic spoilage losses (heating)

Thorough compaction and clamp sealing will help to optimise DM retention