Mowing Cereal Rye for Straw

Depending on the planting date and geographic location, rye will be cut in mid to late May. Ideally it should be cut at early flowering to maximize yield and still allow another crop to be planted in a timely way. The demand for straw is relatively strong for livestock bedding, mulch for new lawn seedings and erosion control on construction sites. With the yield potential of 2-3+ tons per acre, rye straw can be a profitable crop with limited inputs and still allow another cash crop to be planted after harvest. It is common to see soybeans or vegetable crops such as sweet corn or pumpkins planted after rye or even a summer forage crop. One of the challenges with rye straw is that it comes at a time when there are many demands on a farmer's time, such as corn and soybean planting and hay making, just to name a few.

I created a short 5 minute video describing the process of making rye straw, its advantages and challenges and economics.