One way for farmers to beat the fall grazing slump is to plan just a little bit ahead and plant turnips or other species of the annual forage brassica. Brassicas are a group of leafy vegetables including turnips, rape, kale and swedes that tend to be fast growing, high yielding, somewhat cold tolerant, and very high in nutritional value. They can be planted in mid- to late summer to provide quality grazing through the fall and early winter. Turnips are the most commonly grown of the forage brassicas. Most turnip varieties will reach maturity and provide good grazing material in 80 to 90 days.
Varieties can vary widely in their production of tops relative to roots.
Unlike perennial forages, brassicas do not lose digestibility as they increase in maturity. Because of the high digestibility of brassicas, farmers need to use caution when transitioning livestock to a brassica diet. It is helpful to think of turnips more as a concentrate than as forage in terms of digestibility, and introduce livestock to the feed accordingly. Also, there is some evidence that feeding brassicas just prior to milking may cause tainted milk. Turnips and other brassicas grow best in soils with a pH of 5.3 to 6.8.