Westford barley

[Ron]

Has anybody grown or seen westford barley. I understand it is a forage barley for greenfeed or silage and not suitable for grain production. What is the yield potentialas forage. What is the yield potential if wheather makes you harvest as grain. Any special treatment as forage ie seeding rate, fertility. Thanks

[emiled]

Westford barley has performed well in most areas as a forage (silage) barley variety. Tonnage per acre has been reported as high as 14 tonnes/ac (silage). Grain yield is less than stellar and seed weight is not usually great but it was never developed for this purpose. It is a later maturing variety and I normally suggest growers plant this early and allow it to reach a maturity stage suitable for ailage (65% moisture)..Seeding it late (usually means harvesting it early) will not allow it to maximize yield potential and usually means harvesting at 80% moisture. Seeding rates should aim for 24 plants per sq ft...rate should be adjusted based on 1000 kwt.

[emiled]

One more note...Westford is quite susceptible to smut so it should be treated with a proper fungicide seed treatment.