The seed threshes free of the palea and lemma. The seeds tend to shatter or fall out when ripe. For this reason, coupled with earlier ripening, rye may be a bad weed in wheat fields. Rye is second only to wheat for flour production. Milling of rye is essentially similar to wheat.
Baked goods made with rye flour have a distinctive flavor.
As feed, rye is not relished by livestock, so rye grain is usually fed in mixtures with other cereals. In nutritive value rye is a little lower than wheat. Substantial quantities of rye are also used for making distilled alcoholic beverages.