Peas for green feed

[Mugeye]

Has anyone bailed Field peas whole for green feed ? Or do you have to combine it then bale the straw ? How do you think sheep will like that ?

 

[Texasmark]

I'm fixing to find out. I planted Austrian Field peas with my winter rye. I ran peas only last year and plowed them in; no fert added, just peas. Came back with a Sudan-sorghum hay crop, no fert and made a good showing. This year I'm going to see if baling the combo is an option, but I did add some NPK this time. Since folks run Alfalfa along with a grass for hay, I don't know why peas wouldn't do just as well to up the TDM and protein.

 

[smstonypoint]

Check https://library.ndsu.edu/ir/bitstream/handle/10365/5375/as1224.pdf?sequence=1.

Steve

 

[Kentuckyfarmer]

I don't know about baling peas but this was long time ago (60's) we use to grow about 20 acres of peas and 20 acres of sweet corn for birds-eye. When the peas were ready a cutter would come in and cut the peas and put them in a windrow then a loader, was pulled behind a tractor that picked up the vines and would go on a belt and loaded in a truck. Then hauled to a stationary viner and dumped. They would be picked up by electric forks operated by hand and feed in the viner and peas would come out and go to a Ben and the vines would go and be loaded in the trucks that hauled the vines and dumped back at the farm that grew them. Called it silage after vines were vined. We feed the silage to the cows and heifers and they loved it. I don't see why other livestock wouldn't eat it if it was baled. It may take a little longer to dry than hay because it has a thicker stem and the pea pods. Be interesting to see what happens.