Growing dual-purpose wheat for both grazing and grain production is an important agricultural practice in the Southern Great Plains. But of late, more Texas Rolling Plains producers want to know if alternative systems to dual-purpose wheat, such as grazing cover crops, can bring additional value.
Cover crops are grown for a specific duration in the cropping offseason and then terminated and left in the field to protect against soil erosion and to recycle nutrients in the soil, said Paul DeLaune, Texas A&M AgriLife Research environmental soil scientist, Vernon. They protect the soil surface and provide residues to potentially improve soil structure,