Conserving drought affected cereal and canola crops as silage or hay has provided a valuable dollar return for crop producers and high quality fodder for livestock producers.

Another lesson from 2006 and 2007 is that producers who decided early about their options fared better, whether they then either grazed, conserved as hay or silage, or continued with crops for grain.

This decision must be based on realistic yield and rainfall expectations.

In some instances, particularly where yields are low, crops are better left standing as a feed source for grazing livestock because losses are too high with cutting.

Grazing standing crops avoids the cost and losses of conservation and maximises the amount of crop available to sheep and cattle.

Because standing crops are more exposed to environmental conditions than hay or silage, there is a greater change in both quantity and quality over time.

Therefore standing crops should be grazed before feeding conserved fodder.

Unlike hay or silage, animals will selectively graze standing crops and consume a diet higher than the average feed quality value of the crop.

However once stock have eaten the choice parts they may be reluctant to consume the remaining low quality stems.

Forcing them to do so will reduce livestock production and can increase erosion due to overgrazing.

If the decision is made to conserve then the principles of good hay and silage need to be followed to produce high quality.

Crops must be cut early when feed quality is high.

Feed quality will decline significantly after flowering in drought affected canola crops or boot stage in cereals, often with little or no increase in yield.

As a general rule, a drop of one per cent in forage digestibility will result in a three to five per cent drop in animal production when fed.

Leaf and head/pod material is significantly higher in feed value than the stem.

Leaf and pod loss in canola is more rapid than with wheat. Grazing canola crops first to capture this material may be one strategy to maximise use.