An economic evaluation of wheat cultivars based on grain and forage production

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is extensively used for both forage for cattle (Bos taurus L.) and grain from the same planting in the southern Great Plains. Little information on the impact of cultivar selection on the economic return in such a wheat production system is available. Forage and grain yield data from 12 hard red winter wheat cultivars grown in nine environments were evaluated to assess the economic impact of cultivar selection. Trials in each environment were a randomized complete block design with four to six replications. Forage data were collected until the early joint stage of growth, and grain yield was obtained from the same plots. Forage data were converted into pounds of beef and then return from beef using three conversion procedures, since tested conversion ratios were not available. Returns from beef and grain were summed and cultivars were ranked in each environment. Rank statistics were used to evaluate cultivar stability across environments. Environmental mean forage and grain yields varied widely, 367 to 2450 for forage and 13.8 to 52.2 bu/acre for grain, resulting in average net returns across environments ranging from $2.29 to $164.78/acre. Higher grain yielding cultivars were not among the highest forage yielding cultivars, emphasizing the need to use the combined economic return in decisionmaking. Net return by cultivar across environments ranged from $51.18 to $78.47/acre. Cultivar rankings were consistent across environments, across methods of calculating conversion of forage into beef, and across price scenarios for both beef and grain. Producers interested in using wheat for both forage and grain can effectively choose cultivars based upon net return per acre, but choosing based on forage or grain yield alone seldom resulted in greatest economic return.