Greenfeed for Unseeded Acres: A Smart Option for Late-Season Recovery

By Mitchell Japp, MSc. PAg. Research & Extension Manager for SaskBarley

Barley Greenfeed: A Practical Solution for Unseeded Acres

Floods, flea beetles, gophers, cutworms, hailstorms—2022 threw the whole book at Prairie producers. For some, these challenges left acres effectively without a crop. But all is not lost. Planting greenfeed for unseeded acres offers a timely and practical way to get value from land that otherwise would sit idle.

Why Consider Greenfeed for Unseeded Acres?

If your crop plans have been derailed, switching to greenfeed may help turn lemons into, well, livestock feed.

Benefits of Greenfeed:

• Soil Moisture Utilization: A growing crop makes the most of the moisture that’s already in the ground.
• Weed Competition: Greenfeed helps suppress weeds, including problem species that could be tougher to control next season.
• Emergency Feed or Marketable Crop: Greenfeed provides feed for your own livestock or income from selling to those who need it.

Barley: A Top Pick for Greenfeed

Barley consistently ranks among the best options for greenfeed, offering strong forage yield and feed quality. Starting in 2021, the SaskSeed Guide and Varieties of Grain Crops began including forage yield comparisons for several barley varieties. You can find this data in the yellow section (page VR37) or online using the Interactive Seed Guide.

If traditional forage varieties are in short supply, there’s still hope. A research project by Wheatland Conservation Area—An Assessment of Annual Forage Varieties in Saskatchewan—is providing useful yield comparisons for grain varieties. This is helpful when forage seed isn’t available, and the project also includes mixture comparisons to suit different feeding systems.

Considerations for Late-Seeded Greenfeed

Late-season greenfeed seeding comes with a few risks, the biggest being disease pressure, particularly from rust. To protect your greenfeed investment:

• Choose varieties with strong rust resistance, especially if rust is common in your region.
• Consider seed treatments or foliar fungicides if disease risk is high.

Flexibility in Tough Years

Whether you’re a livestock producer needing emergency forage or a grain farmer looking to salvage something from a difficult year, annual forages for greenfeed, silage, or yellow-feed offer flexibility. Greenfeed can be the bridge between a wrecked plan and a manageable outcome.

Helpful Resources

• Interactive Seed Guide – Variety comparisons and forage yield data
• Annual Crops for Grazing, Silage and Greenfeed – Saskatchewan.ca