One study showed that the labor requirement for these crops was three times that needed for corn silage production. In the late 1970s, however, researchers began to recognize the potential of the root brassicas as forage crops, thereby eliminating the need for manual labor in harvesting and storage. In general, the forage brassicas are high-quality, high yielding forage crops that are well suited to seeding into existing pastures with little or no tillage. Rutabaga is a cool-weather crop and is grown primarily in the northern parts of the United States and Europe, in Great Britain and in Canada. Brassicas are high-quality forage if harvested before heading.
Livestock readily graze on the stems, leaves and roots of rutabaga plants.
Rutabaga and other brassicas can provide grazing during the late summer and fall after other forage crops have played out. Rutabaga maintains its nutritional quality and palatability, if not heading, well into freezing temperatures and may be grazed in the Upper Midwest into November. Rutabaga is a biennial, which can overwinter as a storage root. The storage root may be purple, white or yellow, with yellowish flesh. Rutabaga leaves are bluish, thick like cabbage, and smooth.