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Small Grains

Wheat and Barley for grain and forage

There are many small grains used in the Midwest. Although the most popular are triticale and oats, several of these other small grains may have a use on your farm.

Wheat
Whether grown as a cover crop or for grain, wheat adds rotation to any cropping system. The seeding rate is 100-150 lb./A for forage and 30-60 lb./A for cover crop or in mixes. Harvested as a grain crop, it offers the option of double cropping with sorghum/sudan, radishes, or other cover crops.

Barley
Barley is gaining popularity in the Midwest for forage because it tends to be high in sugar and very soft with high digestibility.  Barley is very palatable. The downside is it cannot take very wet areas, and it may winterkill. As a grain, barley is 10 days earlier than wheat.  Great for a double crop.

  • This wheat is a beardless variety with good rust resistance.
  • It has had solid forage performance in the Midwest.
  • This is a more economical wheat for cover crop or forage.
  • Bess Wheat can be used for forage or grain.
  • It grows 38 to 40 inches tall with good stalk strength.
  • This barley is great for fall grazing and forage production.
  • It grows tall and has above-average lodging resistance.
  • Atlantic is semi-smooth awn barley with great resistance to powdery mildew and leaf rust.
  • It is shorter (about 33 in.) with moderately early heading.
  • This barley is good for grain or forage.
  • The plants are taller for more hay or straw.
  • Lakeview wheat brings the latest genetics in conventional and organic wheat.
  • Lakeview wheat varieties were among the highest yielding varieties in past wheat trials
    by the University of Missouri.