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crown vetch

B

big hunter

Member
crown vetch is a "legume" correct. why don"t people grow it for hay? I remember the saying (when you plant it) the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps and the third year it leaps. Just wondering...
 
The main problem with the vetches is that thay have hard seed. That means that they don't necessarily germinate, on time, like most crops. I love to have vetch in a field of orchard grass, as hay. Problem is, you can seed vetch, and sometimes only 5% of what you plant, will germinate. Sometimes you get a year, where 95% will germinate, and sometimes that happens when you have planted a wheat or corn crop!
 
Evidently it's ok but what DiY Dave said is a good reason.
Crownvetch has been considered as a source of forage for livestock. It is a non-bloating legume. Some research has indicated that the young growth is palatable but that more mature growth is not readily accepted. In other grazing trials, animals were slow to accept it, but after a few days their performance on crownvetch was comparable to that of other common grass-legume pastures. Crownvetch produces palatable high quality forage for all classes of livestock either as hay or pasture. There is little or no bloat hazard in grazing crownvetch.
 

For some reason, there was a lot of volunteer vetch here this year(Global Warming, LOL). There is a narrow window of opportunity to cut and bale the stuff before it gets too ripe. Makes good hay though.

KEH
 
hi i have mowed and fed crown vetch for at least 30yrs.it makes dam good feed sown with mixed grasses timothy,orchard, alsike clover, broam, grass etc etc. it can be hard to cut and dry but with a good mower i have cut lots of it. it also can be hard to round bale wrapping around rollers etc but still i like it for feed and have sold bale after bale to livesstock producers in my area.
 
I've got one field heavy with it. Very hard to dry down, other grasses shatter by the time the vetch is dry enough to not heat.

When cut late the seed pods all come off while tedding and raking but it doesn't seem to reseed or out compete the other species very well. I do see some starting near where I blow my equipment off so it probably caught a ride in.
 
If you are grwoing small grain for food grade, stay away from vetch, very hard to get out of grain unless you've got a real good cleaner or maybe a disc separator to deal with it. Buyers see vetch in the grain and they immediately think rat crap although on inspection it looks nothing like it.
 
Well first off it takes over. 2nd nothing other then goats will eat it and 3rd it is next to impossible to get rid of once you have it. How do I know all this. Well my dad planted it a number of years ago and I have been fighting it ever since and he died back in 2007. All I have been able to do is slow it down some
 
I like to see vetch growing in rye. My food plot is full of vetch. I planted crimson clover, red clover, wheat and Austrian winter peas. With all that potential nitrogen, I'm going to disc this fall to reseed and plow under in the spring. Should produce a good stand of corn. There seems to be a bumper crop of vetch everywhere.

Larry
 
i remember 40 years ago dad sowed some vetch and they had an inoculant that you had to soak the seed in to get it to grow,...now i see it everywhere,...how come it grows wild without the inoculant ????
 
Cattle will eat it it takes them a while to decide they like it then they eat it into the groung. It makes good hay but is hard to cut hard to rake and hard to bale and worst hard to cure. It needs to be cut early and often to make hay, 17 18 % proten.
 
Cattle will eat it it takes them a while to decide they like it then they eat it into the groung. It makes good hay but is hard to cut hard to rake and hard to bale and worst hard to cure. It needs to be cut early and often to make hay, 17 18 % proten.
 
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