Figure 1. Crabgrass converted to winter pasture quickly in a crabgrass-winter pasture double crop. In this case, the crabgrass residue is being disked, dragged, and drilled to rye in an economical, one-trip tandem operation. A roller (packer) is better than a drag. For many years we did this with the 730 John Deere tractor, a railroad iron drag, and a John Deere FB-B disk drill. It worked, but there are better ways today.

We have had a cereal rye and crabgrass double-crop pasture on the same dry-land field for twenty-four years without a failure of either component. Of course there have been ebbs and flows, but we invariably use rotational grazing to allow seed drop, thereby reducing crop failures.

The winter pasture component can vary tremendously, depending on the region and philosophy of the producer. For example, Wheat Belt producers often use wheat as the winter choice simply because of their location and because they do not want wheat fields contaminated.

Wheat produces limited fall-phase and excellent spring-phase pasture that overlaps the crabgrass season very well. Under irrigation, pasture flow works fine and there sometimes is little interruption from wheat to crabgrass.

Wheat has limitations, too. It generally produces less in the fall than good varieties of cereal rye. Under dry-land conditions, it can steal the spring moisture from early crabgrass and prevent the earliest crabgrass stand development and production, which is delayed until the next good rain if proper management is used.

In the southeastern United States (from Oklahoma City east and south to the respective coasts), annual ryegrass and crabgrass double cropping is a choice. Both components can be managed for volunteer and never be replanted, if that is a production objective.

Annual ryegrass (not cereal rye) produces the least fall phase pasture, but its spring-phase production is tremendous and overlaps the crabgrass season by four to six weeks. Under good rainfall or irrigation distribution, there is little ebb in the forage flow from late winter to summer. In my personal experience, the last ryegrass grazings can be with the earliest crabgrass grazing, with each contributing about 50 percent.

Unfortunately, if the spring-season moisture is limited, ryegrass will outcompete young crabgrass, which will remain dormant until good rains arrive. In 1993, for example, rainfall ceased in the last part of the ryegrass season and there was no crabgrass production until rains resumed in August. We got three grazings during late August, September, and October. In spring 1992, ryegrass pasture grazing was excellent, rainfall was good, and there was no break in production from a progression of pure ryegrass, ryegrass-crabgrass, and pure crabgrass. Sufficient moisture was the key.

Although winter oats, barley, and triticale can work in our region, I prefer to use the more prolific cereal ryes in the double-cropping program. 'Maton', 'Bonel', and 'Elbon' are well proven; they develop the earliest fall-phase pasture, continue to grow into early winter better than wheat or annual ryegrass, produce abundant spring pasture, and terminate production just as crabgrass begins early establishment and production. This system includes a hiatus between rye and crabgrass, which allows soil moisture to accumulate before major crabgrass growth. This combination probably is my favorite, but it has limitations. There always is a gap in the spring/early summer phase when rye is gone and crabgrass is too young, and it must be filled with another forage, such as graze-out wheat, ryegrass, or early warm-season perennial grasses.

Some tillage is essential to make the double crop function well. On good sandy loam soils, a fall tillage to plant the winter crop (cereal rye, wheat, or annual ryegrass can be used) can suffice for it and the summer crabgrass crop. On the loams and clay loam soils, both fall and spring tillage are beneficial. Cereal rye or early plowed wheat is best, not annual ryegrass, because the latter often makes performing spring tillage a difficult decision; the grass is good, late, and thick and crabgrass is already present.

Keep tillages and trips effective and adequate, but to a minimum to control input costs: one trip in the fall and one in the spring (we disk, roll, and drill in one trip). Disk shallowly or lightly cultivate or chisel and use rollers or drags behind.

Crabgrass in a winter pasture and crabgrass double-crop syndrome must be a good native type or the developed 'Red River' crabgrass (figure 1). The former would be one that can grow 18 inches high two or three times a summer. 'Red River' crabgrass can produce up to 8 feet of accumulated growth when rotational grazing is used. I have studied crabgrasses that grew only 6 to 8 inches all summer. These native types won't work in a double-cropping approach.

Double-cropping approaches are initiated several ways. Sometimes, they begin accidentally by native crabgrass volunteer stands whose usefulness depends on the grass's ecotype. Much of the crabgrass in this syndrome is started by overseeding it into graze-out, hay harvest, or grain harvest small grains during the spring. I have seeded successfully this way as early as October and as late as April. A third way to get the double-crop syndrome started is to complete the winter pasture graze-out, make a good seedbed, and plant as you would a fine-seeded crop.