DOES TRITICALE MATURITY MATTER WHEN FED TO DAIRY COWS?

Small grains are harvested for feed on many dairy farms. These can be great additions to the forage inventory and can be incorporated into lactating dairy diets. Often the juggle of other forage inventories, crop rotation, nutrient management programs, and weather may all influence the decision of when to harvest small grains. The planning and execution of harvest timing relative to forage maturity may influence the nutritional composition and digestibility of the harvested forage. So how concerned should you be in meeting forage maturity targets when planning to incorporate these forages into dairy cattle diets?

Several studies have evaluated triticale harvested at either boot stage or soft-dough stage of maturity. In general, by harvesting at the boot stage the forage has higher crude protein, lower neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and higher NDF digestibility. However, forage yield may be lower when harvested at this earlier maturity. When compared from a least cost ration formulation standpoint, some work indicates that the harvest maturity of small grains has minimal effect on feed cost. This may be true as we balance around the quality of the forage included in the diet, but this doesn’t necessarily mean cows won’t respond to better quality feed. In the end, the feeding situation may dictate the response.

A recent study (Galyon et al., 2026 in JDS) evaluated triticale harvested at two maturities (boot vs. soft-dough stage) included in diets with either low or high forage inclusion. The high forage diets contained 52% forage while the low forage diets contained 37% forage. Triticale was included as 49% of the forage in both diets, with corn silage making up the rest of the forage. The boot stage triticale contained 16.7% CP, 51.1% NDF, 35% ADF, 3.7% lignin, 6.8% uNDF, and 2.2% starch. The soft-dough stage triticale contained 8.7% CP, 62.6% NDF, 46.1% ADF, 6.4% lignin, 22.4% uNDF, and 4.6% starch. Overall, the triticale harvested at the boot stage had greater fiber digestibility. The researchers in this study did a 1:1 replacement of the triticale maturity types and did not try to nutritionally balance across all the diets.

Cows that were fed the boot stage triticale produced 7.7 lb/d (3.5 kg/d) more milk than cows eating the soft-dough stage across the forage inclusion levels in the diet. Cows consuming the low forage diets produced 8.6 lb/d (3.9 kg/d) more milk than cows consuming the high forage diets. The diets with the soft dough triticale had greater milk fat content (4.13 vs. 3.70%) but overall milk fat yields were not different because of the differences in yield and content. The cows fed the boot stage triticale had higher milk protein content (2.89 vs. 2.85%) and higher yield (3.0 vs 2.7 lb/d; 1.36 vs 1.24 kg/d). Cows fed boot stage triticale tended to produce more energy corrected milk (ECM) compared to those fed the soft-dough stage triticale. For ECM there seemed to be less difference when low forage diets were fed compared to the difference between the two maturity stages when higher forage diets were fed. Overall feed efficiency was not impacted by stage of maturity of the triticale but rather was impacted more by forage inclusion level. Cows fed higher forage diets had higher feed efficiency compared to low forage diets. Intake seemed to be more limited when higher forage diets were used. The cows fed the boot stage diets had 6.4 lb/d (2.9 kg/d) more intake when fed the higher forage diet compared to the soft-dough stage diet. With the higher uNDF content in the soft dough triticale it was likely more gut fill limiting with higher forage inclusion levels in the diet and overall uNDF intake. Furthermore, total tract digestibility was higher for cows fed the boot stage triticale for DM and NDF.

Overall, maturity does seem to play a role when incorporated into dairy cow diets. The expected or observed response might be more pronounced in different forage inclusion levels of the diet,Triticale as was seen in this study where a 1:1 replacement was done. However, in practical terms if we are formulating around the quality of the forage in the diet responses may be limited. Although cost and inventory may be critical considerations for the utility of small grain silages in the diets of lactating dairy cows.

̶ Sarah Morrison

morrison@whminer.com