Cereal plants are among the most widely grown crops for animal feed, and they earn that place by being versatile. The same wheat, oat, or barley crop can be grazed standing, cut green for hay or silage, or left to mature for grain. This guide focuses on the growing side: how wheat, oats, and barley are cultivated for cattle feed, when to sow them, and how to get the most forage value from each.
The key to good cereal forage is timing. Cereals cut while still leafy make excellent feed. Once the plant matures and loses its leaves, what remains is poor roughage. Cereal stubble left after grain harvest can be grazed, but it is a fraction of the feed value of the same crop cut green.
Wheat, Oats, and Barley: A Quick Comparison
Small-grain cereals are staples of temperate and subtropical zones, and several grow at high altitude and through winter. Each has different strengths as a forage crop.
| Cereal | Best Conditions | Forage Strength | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat | Temperate and subtropical, including tropical highlands | The premier cereal for hay and grazing | Dual purpose, feed and human food |
| Oats | Cool areas, tolerates lower soil fertility | Excellent for hay and silage, often mixed with legumes | Mostly self-pollinating, so seed can be saved |
| Barley | Dry and high-altitude areas, tolerates lighter soils | Fast-ripening and drought-resistant | Awned varieties need care at feeding, see below |
Wheat
Wheat is the main cereal grown for cattle across temperate and subtropical countries, and it grows well in tropical highlands too. It serves for grazing, for conservation as hay or silage, and of course for grain.
Growing wheat with legumes
Wheat suits mixed cropping with annual legumes such as peas and vetches, which fix nitrogen and lift the protein of the resulting forage. The critical point is matching the growth cycles. If the legume matures much earlier than the wheat, it will dry out and shatter before the wheat reaches cutting stage, and you lose the benefit.
Wheat also works well as a nurse crop for winter clovers such as Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum). Sow the wheat at a light seed rate so enough light reaches the establishing clover. The faster-growing, cold-hardy wheat gives an early cut while the clover is still slow, and the clover carries on afterwards.
Sowing time depends on climate
Wheat sowing varies widely by region:
- Cold-winter regions: spring wheat is sown in spring, once the hard frost has passed.
- Temperate climates: wheat can be sown in autumn (winter wheat) or spring (spring wheat), depending on the variety.
- Mediterranean and subtropical regions: sown in autumn for hay.
- Tropical highlands: sown at the start of the rainy season.
Oats
Oats are a cool-climate cereal that tolerates lower soil fertility than wheat, which makes them useful on ground where other cereals struggle. They are frequently grown in mixtures with vetches or peas for hay and silage, the legume raising the protein content of the conserved feed.
One practical advantage for the farmer: oats are largely self-pollinating, so seed can be saved from one crop to sow the next, reducing input costs season to season.
“Oats mixed with a legume like vetch make some of the most reliable whole-crop silage we see farmers produce, because the legume lifts the protein that cereals lack on their own. The one thing that decides the outcome is cutting at the right stage, while the crop is still leafy and before the grain hardens. Cut too late and you have bulk without much feed value, however well you preserve it afterwards.”
— Sue Su, Marketing Director of Silopak
Barley
Barley is grown for feed across temperate and subtropical regions, and it comes into its own where wheat struggles: dry areas, high altitude, and lighter soils. It ripens faster than wheat and is more drought-resistant, which makes it valuable in marginal conditions. It is a mainstay feed crop across West and Central Asia.
Barley is generally rated below wheat for hay and grazing quality, and it has one specific issue worth understanding rather than glossing over.
The awn problem
The concern about barley damaging livestock mouths is real but specific. It relates to the awns, the long bristles on the barley head, not to barley as a plant. In awned varieties harvested or grazed at the wrong stage, the sharp awns can irritate or injure the mouth and gums.
This is manageable. Graze barley before the heads develop mature awns, choose awnless or smooth-awned varieties where barley forage is a regular part of the system, and take care when feeding mature awned barley. Barley sown in autumn can be grazed in winter or early spring provided grazing is not prolonged, and at that early stage the awn problem does not arise.
Getting the Forage Value: Cut at the Right Stage
The single factor that determines whether cereal forage is good or mediocre is cutting stage, and it applies to all three cereals.
Cut while the crop is still leafy and green, before the grain hardens and the lower leaves begin to die back. At this stage the balance of protein, sugar, and digestible fiber is at its best. Leave it too long and fiber rises, protein and digestibility fall, and the crop becomes stemmy roughage regardless of how carefully it is conserved afterwards.
For whole-crop cereal silage, this timing also captures the developing grain, which contributes starch and energy to the finished feed.
Preserving Cereal Forage
Once cut at the right stage, cereal forage is preserved either as hay, by drying, or as silage, by fermentation. Silage generally retains more feed value and is more forgiving of unsettled weather, since it does not depend on a dry curing window.
For silage and whole-crop, the airtight seal is what makes the preservation work. Silopak has manufactured bale net wrap, silage film, and round bale film since 2011 from premium virgin resin, holding a reliable seal for 18 months or more. For a fuller treatment of the feed value of each cereal, see our guide on cereal crops as livestock feed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which cereal is best to grow for cattle forage?
It depends on your conditions. Wheat is the premier cereal for hay and grazing where the climate suits it, offering the best forage quality of the three. Oats are the better choice in cool areas and on lower-fertility soils, and they excel in legume mixtures for silage. Barley is the one to grow in dry, high-altitude, or lighter-soil conditions where wheat struggles, thanks to its drought resistance and fast ripening. Many farms grow more than one to match different fields and seasons.
Q: Can barley really injure a cow’s mouth?
The risk comes specifically from the awns, the long bristles on the barley head, not from barley itself, and only in awned varieties fed or grazed at a mature stage. Managed correctly, barley is a valuable feed crop. Graze it before the awns mature, choose awnless or smooth-awned varieties where barley forage is regular, and take care when feeding mature awned barley. Barley grazed young in winter or early spring does not present the awn problem at all.
Q: Why grow cereals with legumes like peas or vetch?
Because legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen and are much higher in protein than cereals, so a cereal-legume mixture produces forage with better protein content than the cereal alone, while the legume also reduces the nitrogen fertilizer the crop needs. The key is matching growth cycles: if the legume matures far earlier than the cereal, it shatters and is lost before the cereal is ready to cut. Chosen well, the combination gives a higher-value whole-crop silage than either component on its own.
Q: When should cereal forage be cut?
While the crop is still leafy and green, before the grain hardens and the lower leaves die back. This is when the balance of protein, sugar, and digestible fiber is at its peak. Cutting too late produces bulky, stemmy material that is high in fiber and low in feed value, and no amount of careful conservation afterwards recovers what was lost by cutting late. For whole-crop silage, cutting as the grain is developing also captures useful starch and energy.
Reviewed by Sue Su, Marketing Director of Silopak, on 15 September 2026. This guide focuses on growing cereal plants for forage; the feed value of each cereal is covered separately in our cereal crops guide.
