Lodged crops are almost impossible to cut cleanly. It is usually very difficult or impossible to cut cereals with a disk mower-conditioner as the machine pushes into the soft ground and plugs with soil. When cutting crops that have headed out, crimping rolls should be loosened or conditioners removed from swathers to reduce the loss of heads from the silage. Oats are preferred over barley for pasturing due to their higher palatability. When harvested at similar stages of maturity, the nutritional value of cereals are comparable.
Maturity affects chemical composition more than species.
Forage crude protein drops quickly after heading. Cereal forage harvested in the boot stage has higher protein level and about the same energy level as corn silage. The highest quality is when the harvested forage is in the boot stage, but the maximum energy harvested per hectare occurs at the soft dough stage. Cereal silage can serve as the sole forage for late lactation, low producing, and dry dairy cows and can also be used successfully for feedlot cattle. Early-cut cereal forage may be lower in calcium and magnesium Table 2.