Are Small Grains Profitable?
Entering October, is it too late to plant small grains (wheat or possibly barley) and is it even profitable to do so? It is not too late but with wheat at roughly $4.50 to $5.00, it is difficult to make wheat profitable. Most can justify planting wheat at $6/bushel. However, $4.50 corn is not much better. Planting wheat helps improve the crop rotation, reduce weeds, and may increase other crop yields by 10%. Wheat and other small grain crops like barley, cereal rye, oats are alternative crops. The market for barley and oats are fairly limited. Due to high test weight oats grown in Canada and few breweries in Ohio, oat and barley markets are slim. At around $12/bushel for cereal rye as a cover crop, cereal rye can be profitable with good yields.
Wheat straw can be harvested to gain income and double crop soybeans are another option to add income. It’s the wheat roots that add most of the soil organic matter (80-90%), so harvesting the wheat straw is a good practice. Anything planted after harvesting wheat straw (double crop soybeans or cover crops) benefit from straw removal. Wheat straw/ton contains about 11-13# of nitrogen, 3-4# of phosphorus and 20-25# of potassium, so account for that fertilizer value when removing baled straw.
Maximizing high quality wheat yields help farmers stay profitable. That starts with good genetics. Plant wheat varieties that are disease-free, disease resistant, high yielding, high test weights and with good straw strength. Many new wheat varieties have shorter stems with more energy for grain production. However, there are still high yielding wheat varieties with longer stems. If you want to bale straw as an enterprise, select the traditional wheat varieties. If you do not plan to harvest the straw, shorter varieties may be better. Plant after the Hessian fly-free date (no longer a problem in Ohio).
Planting after the Hessian fly free date helps prevent a number of common wheat diseases including aphids that carry barley yellow dwarf disease, but also minimizes problems with Stagonospora blotch and leaf rusts.
A good wheat seeding rate is 1.2 million to 1.6 million seeds per acre or 18-24 seed per foot on 7.5-inch drill. Use higher rates with later planting. A bushel of wheat has about 900,000 seeds per bushel on average or 14,000 to 16,000 seeds per pound, but that varies so check your seed count. Wheat should be planted at a uniform depth of around 1.5 inches to moisture, if possible, to promote tillering.
Most wheat is planted an early maturing soybean variety is harvested. Make sure any soybean residue is spread evenly. It is not advisable to plant wheat after corn because both wheat and corn are grasses that have similar diseases. Wheat grows best at about 770F but no more than 860F with bright sunlight but it also grows well in cooler temperatures with adequate moisture.
Wheat also needs adequate nutrition. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N-P-K) are critical for good growth. Start with a good soil test. Most wheat needs 20-40 pounds N in the fall. Planting after soybeans helps but some extra N, especially in the ammonium form improves stands. Wheat responds to N at three critical stages; planting, about V-5 (five true leaves), and when wheat starts heading. Ammonium sulfate gives wheat both N and S (sulfur). Sulfur has become more limiting in our soils as the Clean Air Act has removed extra sulfur in the atmosphere from our power plants.
Phosphorus (P) often can be limiting and helps with energy production. Adequate Potassium (K) helps with growing roots and stronger stems. Adequate K also helps plants survive heat, drought, and cold stress. Calcium and Boron help planters tiller, increase flowers (kernels) and also help improve test weights. In the spring, adequate manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) increase head size. Ideally, 60 to 70 wheat heads per square foot are needed for high yields. In the spring, fungicides are often used to reduce fungal diseases. Farmers should soil test for copper soil levels to get high wheat yields. Copper helps with pollination, improves the plants immune system to disease, and improves wheat plant health.
For farmers wanting to plant cereal rye for seed production, some of the same principles apply. Cereal rye needs a higher seeding rate at 2-3 bushel per acre because it does not tiller as well as wheat. It needs 50# N applied in the fall and regular rates of spring applied N. Cereal rye definitely needs a fungicide to protect against Ergot and probably also a growth regulator to reduce lodging. Cereal rye can produce high yields but it takes good management.