Winter triticale does double duty as a cover crop while producing high-quality forage (2 to 4 ton/acre dry matter harvested at flag leaf stage). Winter triticale for forage has several benefits: (1) early harvest allows for double cropping with short season corn, teff, soybeans, or sorghum x sudangrass; (2) the ground coverage in the fall and spring protects highly erodable land (HEL) and results in takeup of nutrients that otherwise might be lost to the environment; (3) when harvested at pollination will produce 25 to 30% more straw yield than rye; (4) red clover can be planted when triticale is seeded (if planted before September 5 in New York) or frost seeded; (5) establishment in August and harvest in May allows for manure spreading outside of the regular growing season and under conditions that are more favorable for manure spreading.
