Field Drying-Rate Differences Among Three Cool-Season Grasses

Conserving cool-season grasses as silage or hay remains a challenge due to the time required for field curing and the unpredictability of the weather. We compared the drying rates of three grasses with differing yield potential, morphology, and physical characteristics. Inflorescence-stage meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds. subsp. pratensis [syn. Schedonorus pratensis (Huds.) P. Beauv.]), orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) were cut and swathed with field-scale equipment at 1100 h on three consecutive days of early June in each of 2 years. Moisture, drying rate, and nutritive value were measured hourly until 1600 h and over the same time frame during the following 2 days. Despite differences in leaf-to-stem ratio and windrow density, there were few differences in drying rate (mean of 0.229, 0.150, and 0.119/h on the first, second, and third days, respectively). In one year, meadow fescue had lower initial moisture content at harvest than the other grasses, potentially allowing earlier processing into silage on the first day of curing. Species will probably not have an impact on drying rate of cool-season grasses harvested at the same relative maturity.