A severe drought will destroy most of a corn crop, and the productivity of pastures and hay crops can been dramatically reduced. This situation may force dairy and livestock producers to seek alternative sources of feed, forage, and hay.
Soybeans can be planted as a forage and hay crop as late as early- to mid-August. However, feeding of soybean forage or hay to livestock is restricted following use of many of the recommended herbicides. Feeding such material may result in the presence of illegal pesticide residues. Almost all of the postemergence herbicides registered for weed control in soybeans prohibit feeding of soybean plant material from treated fields. Feeding restrictions are also a consideration for soybeans which are already planted and have received one or more herbicide applications.
A list of the herbicides that prohibit grazing and feeding of soybean forage, hay, or straw to livestock is provided below. Since these products cannot be used, growers who plant soybeans as a forage or hay crop will find it more difficult to achieve satisfactory weed control. For example, most of the soil-applied and all of the postemergence herbicides that control sicklepod prohibit feeding of the soybean forage or hay to livestock. Growers will have to rely on Lexone, Sencor, Turbo, or Salute plus cultivation and/or crop competition to achieve adequate sicklepod control. Weeds such as sicklepod, coffee senna, jimsonweed, black nightshade, and showy crotalaria must be controlled since they are poisonous to livestock.
Recommended herbicides that prohibit feeding of soybean forage and hay to livestock.
Assure II Lorox + Butyrac 200 Blazer Pinnacle Bugle Pursuit Canopy Scepter Classic Scepter O.T. Command Select Freedom Sonalan Fusilade 2000 Squadron Lasso Micro-Tech Storm Linex + Butyrac 200 Tri-SceptRecommended herbicides that may be used in soybeans grown for forage or hay.
Arena Prowl Basagran Salute Bronco Sencor Lasso E.C. Tri-4 Lexone Trilin Poast (hay only) Turbo Poast Plus (hay only)