Impact of grazing on the silage yield of forage oat crops

Winter forage oat crops are increasing in acreage on Tasmanian dairy farms. Such crops can be grazed multiple times during vegetative development in winter then later harvested for silage at the booting or soft dough growth stages in spring. Although effects of grazing on grain yield of winter cereal crops have been well characterised (Harrison et al. 2011), little research has been conducted on the influence of grazing on the forage and silage yield potential of oats grown in Tasmania.

We aimed to explore the influence of grazing management on the yields of forage for grazing and ensiling of oat crops using a biophysical crop model.