Reed canary grass is one of the most popular forage plants used to control erosion in ditches, waterways and gullies. It is particularly well adapted to wet areas and will withstand periods of complete inundation.
It also makes excellent hay, especially when mixed with other legumes. When seeded in upland sods, it can be grown successfully with a variety of legumes such as ladino, red clover and birdsfoot trefoil.
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1. It’s Easy to Harvest
Reed canary grass is easy to harvest and store, making it a good choice for many farmers. It is also a great source of dry matter for compost piles and animal bedding.
Reed canarygrass is a perennial grass that grows from 2 to 7 feet tall and has coarse rhizomes. It can be managed well to form a dense close sod under proper hay and pasture management.
When properly established, reed canarygrass provides excellent grazing and hay opportunities in wetter fields that would otherwise be unproductive. It can also provide erosion control when used along ditches, canals and waterways.
It can be seeded in spring or late summer and is usually more successful when there is less weed competition during establishment. Often, it is best to seed a complementary crop such as oats to help reduce weed pressure until the canarygrass is established. It can also be planted in a no-till system if the soil is firm and packed.
2. It’s High in Nutrients
If grazed properly, reed canary grass is a very nutritious forage. It contains lots of nutrients that cows need to be healthy and productive, like protein, carbohydrates and fiber.
Reed canarygrass also has low alkaloid content. This is a good thing because it means that the forage has little or no potential to cause diarrhea in livestock.
This means that it is better for haymaking than other cool season grasses. However, it does not have the same quality as a mature, smooth bromegrass or timothy.
Nevertheless, it has been known to provide high yields on well-drained or even droughty soils. It also has the ability to tolerate waterlogging for extended periods of time.
It is a great option for farms that have wet areas that would otherwise be unproductive. It provides a good grazing and hay opportunity in these areas when other pastures are dry.
3. It’s Easy to Store
Reed canarygrass hay for cows is easy to store and maintain. This cool-season grass grows quickly in spring and is summer and winter hardy. It can be mowed and grazed. However, it should be mowed early in the spring to avoid a long haying season and to keep it from becoming too coarse.
This nutrient-rich hay can be fed to livestock as a stand-alone ration or in combination with other forage species, such as orchardgrass and timothy. It can also be mixed with a legume to produce a more robust forage mix.
A high-quality reed canarygrass hay can provide dairy heifers with better feed conversion and digestion than second-cutting alfalfa hay. It also produces more crude protein than alfalfa hay when fed in a split nitrogen application.
Older varieties of reed canarygrass contain high levels of alkaloids that can be unpalatable to livestock. Newer reed canarygrass varieties, such as Palaton and Venture, have been developed to be low-alkaloid.
4. It’s Easy to Maintain
A new study in Nebraska reveals that reed canary grass can be a valuable resource for cows and their owners. The research focuses on a wetland in southeast Nebraska where reed canarygrass has displaced native vegetation that produces seed to feed migratory waterfowl.
Researchers were able to bring cows into the wetlands and allow them to graze repeatedly throughout the growing season. They were able to remove the reed canary grass growth enough to allow more open water for other vegetation to grow in.
The researchers used a combination of grazing and herbicides to keep the reed canary grass from growing too tall. In addition, they were able to cut the stems and leaves of the reed canary grass to open the area up for other plants to get more light.
The results of the study suggest that reed canary grass should be more widely used in pastures and hay fields. The high yield potential of reed canary grass combined with its excellent winter hardiness and drought tolerance makes it an attractive option.
