Annual Forages

Variety Descriptions

The MCVET Annual Forage trials evaluated different crop types and varieties for forage yield and quality for livestock feed.
Annual crops are more moisture efficient than perennial forages such as alfalfa or timothy.
Both warm (sorghum, millet) and cool season crops were included in the trials. Warm season crops are more drought and heat tolerant than cool season crops.
Varieties were selected for their higher grain yield, taller growth, lodging resistance, smooth awns and better disease resistance.
Quality is highly dependent on plant maturity at harvest. For optimium quality: harvest barley at early-mid dough stage; oats & triticale at milk-early dough stage; peas at full pod formation; millet and sorghum at early heading.

Triticale

Variety	Days to Maturity (+/- Banjo)	Lodging	Stem Rust	Leaf Rust	Bunt	Fusarium
AC Alta	-1	G	R	R	R	-
AC Certa	-3	G	R	R	R	I
Banjo	100 days	G	R	R	R	-
Pronghorn	-4	G	R	R	R	I
SANDRO	-3	G	R	R	R	-
WCI Widdicombe PBR 91	-4	VG	R	R	R	I

WCI Widdicombe has reduced awns.

Foxtail Millet

Variety / Grower	Seed Colour	Seed Size (seeds/lb)	Days to Head	Days to Maturity
FOXTAIL MILLET
Yellow (Golden German)	Yellow	160-170,000	75-90	85-95
Red (Siberian)	Red	169-170,000	55-70	70-90
PROSO MILLET
Green (Crown)	Gray/Green	70-90,000	50-60	85-90
Red (Cerise)	Red	70-90,000	50-60	85
Yellow (AC Prairie Gold)	Yellow	70-90,000	50-60	75
SORGHUM
Forage Sorghum	-	-	-	85-90
Sorghum sudangrass	-	-	-	80-85
COVER CROP BLEND
Oats, barley, wheat, italian rye grass, triticale, peas, flax, radish, hairy vetch & turnip

Seed source for millet & sorghum: Imperial Seed
Seed source for triticale: Field Crop Development Centre
Cover Crop seed provided by Covers & Co.

Yield Comparions

The 2025 annual forage trial combined all crops and varieties in one trial with three replicates per site.
Quality is highly dependent on plant maturity at harvest. Barley was harvested in mid dough stage; oats & triticale at milk- early dough stage; peas at early pod wrinkle; millet and sorghum at heading.

Crop	Variety / Grower	Arborg	Carberry	Melita	Roblin	Manitoba Average
Oats	CDC Arborg PBR 91	2	2.7	5.5	5.6	3.95
Oats	Ruminator (OT6036)	2.1	3.2	4.7	5.4	3.85
Oats	ORe BOOST PBR 91	2	2.6	5.5	5.1	3.8
Oats	Westgate (SA152324)	2.1	4.2	6.2	6.3	4.7
Oat Average						4.08

Barley	AB Advantage PBR 91	3.1	4	5.8	6.8	4.93
Barley	AB Tofield PBR 91	3.1	3.5	4.2	6.5	4.33
Barley	CDC Renegade PBR 91	3.3	4.3	5.2	6.7	4.88
Barley	FB21106	3.3	4.3	5.5	6.9	5
Barley Average						4.78

Peas/Barley	CDC Lewochko PBR 91 - AB Advantage PBR 91	3.1	4	4	6.3	4.35
Peas/Oats	DL Delicious PBR 91 - CDC Arborg PBR 91	1.4	3.5	4.3	4.8	3.5
Pea/cereal Average						3.93

Spring Triticale	WCI Widdicombe PBR 91	2.4	4	5.3	5.6	4.33

Proso Millet	Crown²	2.5	2.8	4.5	4.5	3.58
Foxtail Millet	Siberian²	1.8	3.9	4.4	4.8	3.73
Millet Average						3.65

Sorghum sudangrass	common²	2.6	3.9	12.6	6.9	6.5
Forage Sorghum	common²		2.5	10.1	9.9	7.5
Sorghum Average						7

Cover crop	Cover crop blend	1.6	3.2	4.5	5.8	3.78

Grand Mean (tonnes/acre)		2.4	3.6	5.8	6.1
CV %		18.9	3.5	9.5	18.6
LSD (0.05)		0.8	0.2	1.2	1.9
Sig Diff		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Seeding Date		May 6 & 27	May 8	June 4	May 26
Harvest Date		45862	Aug 7,11 & 12	Aug 12,13 & 20	Aug 12 & Sept 23

¹Dry matter yields measured under a one-cut system.
²Due to lack of availability, common seed was used.
Sorghum and millet were harvested later at most of the sites due to their later maturity.
Sorghum and millet were seeded later in Arborg. Two reps were used in Melita for yield due to variability in the third rep.

Feed Quality Comparisons

Crop	Variety	Arborg	Carberry	Melita	Roblin	Avg	Arborg	Carberry	Melita	Roblin	Avg	Arborg	Carberry	Melita	Roblin	Avg
Oats	CDC Arborg PBR 91	139	149	117	96		8.1	9.9	11.4	10.8		71.3	71.9	63.1	60.2
Oats	Ruminator (OT 6036)	127	134	97	123		8.7	9.8	11.2	8.3		68.9	69.8	60.6	67.4
Oats	ORe BOOST PBR 91	147	118	99	93		8	9.9	12.2	11.2		71.1	66.5	61.1	60.2
Oats	Westgate (SA152324)	132	132	95	86		8.1	8.9	10.9	9		71.2	67.7	59.9	58.3
	Oat Average	133	133	103	102	123	8.2	9.6	11.4	9.8	9.8	70.6	101	61.2	61.5	73.6
Barley	AB Advantage PBR 91	175	221	147	95		7.5	10	13.1	12.5		76.1	79.7	70.7	60.3
Barley	AB Tofield PBR 91	215	280	155	121		7.5	9.8	11.5	10.4		81	83.8	72.6	66.4
Barley	FB21106	207	216	136	144		8.8	10.5	11	6.1		80	77.7	69.8	70.3
Barley	CDC Renegade PBR 91	174	235	134	106		7.2	10.2	11.6	11.4		76	81	70.5	62.7
	Barley Average	193	238	143	117	191	7.8	10.1	11.8	10.1	10	78.3	80.5	70.9	64.9	73.7
Peas/Barley	CDC Lewochko PBR 91 - AB Advantage PBR 91	162	285	151	108		7.7	13.9	14.6	5.9		74.8	82.4	71.2	63.8
Peas/Oats	DL Delicious PBR 91 - CDC Arborg PBR 91	135	156	112	87		9.6	12.9	12.7	6.4		68.5	74.5	63.9	56.5
	Pea/cereal Average	149	221	132	98	167	8.7	13.4	13.6	6.2	10.5	71.6	78.4	67.5	60.1	69.4
Spring Triticale	WCI Widdicombe PBR 91	148	166	121	75	128	8.7	11.2	12.9	5.3	9.5	73.8	73.4	65.7	52.3	66.3
Proso Millet	Crownâµ	137	103	104	101		8.9	8.4	10.7	11.5		72.5	62.7	62.5	63
Foxtail Millet	Siberianâµ	105	76	85	139		10.6	9.2	10.9	10.5		65.1	53.6	56	68.8
	Millet Average	121	90	95	120	102	9.8	8.8	10.8	11	10.1	68.8	58.1	59.3	65.9	63
Sorghum sudangrass	commonâµ	104	94	96	112		10	10.9	8	11.4		66	60.2	58.3	63.8
Forage Sorghum	commonâµ	103	114	125	114		12	12.1	6.9	5.3		66.3	66.5	65.3	66.2
	Sorghum Average	114	95	101	117	103	10.2	9.8	9.5	9.9	9.9	67.7	60.2	60.3	65.5	63.4
Cover crop	blend	147	170	102	103	131	8.3	10.5	14.6	13	11.6	72.4	72.8	57.7	62.5	66.3

¹Quality tests were done by wet chemistry and were a composite of the three plots/site.
²Relative feed value (RFV)
³Crude protein (CP)
⁴Total Digestive Nutrients (TDN)
⁵Due to lack of availability, common seed was used.