Quick answer: Reed canary grass is a tall, sod-forming perennial that thrives on wet ground where nothing else will grow — creek bottoms, sloughs, and fields that sit under water into June. It has a bad reputation from old high-alkaloid stands that grazing cattle wouldn't eat, but low-alkaloid varieties (Palaton, Venture, Rival) fixed that, and the alkaloids are far less of an issue in hay than in fresh grazing. The one rule that decides everything is cut it early: on time it makes leafy beef hay testing 12–17% crude protein, and second and third cuttings are excellent; let it head out and it's coarse filler or bedding. Because it grows on ground that's hard to dry, the reliable play is to cut early and wrap it wet as baleage.
Every operation has that piece of ground nothing wants to grow on — the clay bottom that stays soggy seven months a year, the slough behind the barn, the creek flat that floods every spring. Reed canary grass is the forage that takes over exactly there, and turns useless acres into cow feed. It's also one of the most misunderstood grasses in the barn: hated by horse people, loved by dairy operators, and carrying a reputation it half deserves.
Here's how reed canary grass actually feeds and hays, straight from growers who've cut it for decades — plus where wrapping it wet solves the wet-ground problem that defines the crop.
What is reed canary grass, and why the bad reputation?
Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) is a tall, coarse, cool-season perennial that spreads by underground rhizomes into a thick sod. It's native to North America but many aggressive stands are naturalized ecotypes, and it will genuinely take over wet ground. Two things drive its mixed reputation:
- Alkaloids. Older wild stands are high in indole alkaloids that taste bitter and cut palatability — grazing animals turn their noses up, and gains suffer. This is the source of the "poor feed" rap.
- It's invasive. Those same rhizomes that make it tough also make it hard to control, and it's regulated as invasive or restricted in some states. More on that at the end — check your rules before you seed it.
But cut and fed correctly, the growers who know it defend it hard:
"The new improved varieties should make excellent feed if cut early, or as 2nd crop! I have horse customers that really like the 2nd crop RCG... I think that RCG has gotten a bad rap, and if correctly managed will make a lot of good feed."
— Shetland Sheepdog · HayTalk thread 17316
Its superpower: forage from ground nothing else will grow
The reason to bother with reed canary grass is simple — it produces where your other forages drown. It tolerates standing water and saturated soil that would kill alfalfa, orchardgrass, or even fescue, and it survives dry spells once established.
"We run a 10 acre patch of RC. Why we ended up with it is the field is under water till June 1. The stuff survives wth wet and dry... this is an attractive crop for ground that can't sustain afalfa or any other grain crop."
— Farmineer95 · HayTalk thread 79194
"We have one patch of it volunteer on a farm that we hay, its in a wet patch and its the only thing that will out grow every weed."
— slowzuki · HayTalk thread 17316
That wet-ground niche is the whole business case. If your difficult acres already grow it as a volunteer, you have a hay crop hiding on ground you'd otherwise write off — the same logic behind haying other tough, wet-tolerant grasses like tall fescue.
The alkaloid problem — and the varieties that fixed it
The alkaloid reputation is real but dated. Old, high-alkaloid ecotypes are bitter and reduce intake, especially under grazing. Two things solve it:
- Plant a low-alkaloid variety. Cultivars like Palaton, Venture, and Rival were bred specifically for low total alkaloids and make genuinely good feed. As one long-time grower put it plainly: "Newer improved varieties are low alkaloid."
- Feed it as hay or baleage, not fresh grazing. Alkaloid trouble shows up most with grazing animals on fresh, actively growing forage; it's much less of a factor in cured hay and fermented baleage.
"It is naturally high in alkaloid compounds that make it poor feed, but there are low alkaloid varieties available. Not as good of feed as some other grasses but not bad if baled before it is too mature."
— 1066smoker · AgTalk Stock Talk thread 1155796
"Once it gets mature it has alot of alkyloids in it that give it a bitter tastes and so the palatability goes down... Otherwise it is a great forage like others have mentioned."
— hayray · HayTalk thread 17316
Notice both growers tie alkaloids to maturity as well as variety — which leads straight to the single most important management rule.
The one rule that decides everything: cut it early
With reed canary grass, maturity governs quality more than anything else you do. Cut it young and it's leafy, palatable beef feed. Let it get ahead of you and it turns to coarse stems fast — good for bedding, not much else.
"I've been putting reed up for cow feed for 40 years. Cut it as early as you can get in it and if rains come you will get a second cutting of nice leafy stuff. Grind two to one alfalfa and have fat cows."
— tbeck, SE South Dakota · AgTalk Stock Talk thread 1155796
"We have wet ground and if it's cut early it makes real good beef hay. If it gets to wet to cut it still makes bedding if you can get into cut and bale it."
— beanplanter, Soldiers Grove, WI · AgTalk Stock Talk thread 1155796
The payoff for cutting on time shows up most in the later cuttings. One grower working a field on shares laid out the maturity tradeoff cutting by cutting:
"The first year we got the first cutting (in round bales) way past prime and it was heavy on stems, but produced a bumper crop of round bales. This year we got the first cutting baled on time (in rounds) and the hay was much nicer, but the yield dropped off (as would be expected). The second cuttings for both years was put up in small squares and was absolutely beautiful."
— Josh in WNY · HayTalk thread 79194
Second and third cuttings are where reed canary grass earns its keep — leafy, fine, and, as more than one grower calls it, "heifer candy."
| Growth stage at cutting | What you get |
|---|---|
| Early — boot to just heading | Leafy beef hay, 12–17% crude protein; best quality |
| Second / third cutting | Fine, tender "heifer candy"; even horses take it |
| Headed and mature | Coarse, stemmy; grinding hay or filler at best |
| Over-ripe / too wet to cure | Bedding — bale it if you can get on the ground |
What it tests, and how to feed it
Cut on time, reed canary grass is respectable grass hay. Forum growers who've lab-tested it land in the range university data would predict:
"The second cutting is very young and lefty. The cows and my wife's horses do very well on it. I tested the CP a few years back, it was 12-14%."
— joeberg · HayTalk thread 17316
The most common way to use the coarser first cutting is as grinding hay for beef cows, often blended with alfalfa: "Alot is feed here as grinding hay for fat cattle mostly. It is a ok cow feed if cut early otherwise it gets real coarse," as one grower described his program. Be honest about the ceiling, though — mature reed canary grass is a filler, not a dairy-quality forage. One grower relayed a nutritionist's blunt verdict that "reed canary does not have the nutritional value as other grasses have... it is alright for cattle to eat but it is more less just a filler." Cut early and it's much better than that; run a forage test so you know exactly what you're feeding and can supplement accordingly.
Getting it off wet ground: dry hay vs. baleage
Here's the catch that ties the whole crop together. Reed canary grass grows on saturated ground, and that same ground is miserable to dry hay on. First cutting especially can be a losing battle:
"I cut a lot of reed canary... it's a bugger to dry for hay. On my land, the swamps I cut are very close to the natural water table, so it's hard to dry. I normally can't get into the fields until July 4th, for the first cutting."
— joeberg · HayTalk thread 17316
The clean answer is to stop fighting the ground and wrap it. Cut early, wilt, bale, and wrap it wet as baleage — the fermentation even improves palatability, and you preserve the leafy quality you'd lose waiting weeks for a dry window that may never come:
"I baled some wet a few weeks ago and wrapped it. Cows climb over each other to get it. The smell is very sweet, like newly mowed lawn grass but better still... Usually that first cut stuff is like straw by the time it's dry enough to bale."
— IAhaymakr · HayTalk thread 17316
The baleage recipe is the same as any wet-wrapped forage: wilt to 50–60% moisture, bale tight on the silage setting, and wrap promptly with net wrap as the inner layer plus 6–8 layers of stretch film. New to wrapping? Start with our first-time baleage guide, the baling-moisture guide, and the dry hay vs. baleage comparison. It's the same reason we recommend baleage for other hard-to-dry forages like annual ryegrass.
One nuance worth knowing: once the ground finally firms up, reed canary grass itself actually cures fast. As one grower found on a timely cutting, "canary grass seems to dry down a lot quicker. We could have almost baled the day after mowing without tedding it." The enemy is the wet ground and the calendar, not the plant — which is exactly what wrapping solves.
Establishing a stand (or managing a volunteer one)
Most people who hay reed canary grass never planted it — it showed up on its own in the wet spots. If you do want to seed it, know going in that it's slow and finicky to establish. The seed is light and fluffy, it hates competition as a seedling, and a full stand can take two years.
"Garrison can be a real PITA to seed, very fluffy. Blend with fertilizer or find coated seed."
— Ralph52, Culbertson, MT · AgTalk Stock Talk thread 1155796
Practical establishment tips from growers:
- Drill with a nurse crop or into light stubble to hold soil while the slow seedlings establish.
- Use coated seed or blend with fertilizer so the fluffy seed flows and places evenly.
- Transplant sod into wet spots. An old forum trick for the wettest ground: "try digging some up with the roots and tromp it in in the wet spots. It will grow and then spread."
- Mind the cost. Seed isn't cheap — one grower quoted roughly 240 dollars for a 50-pound bag, seeded at about 14 pounds per acre alone or 2–10 pounds in a mix.
Once it takes, it's there for good — those rhizomes make it nearly permanent, which is the whole point on ground you can't rotate anyway.
The catch: it's invasive — check your state's rules
Reed canary grass spreads aggressively in wetlands and along waterways, and it's listed as an invasive, restricted, or noxious species in a number of states. In some places you can't even buy improved seed — as one Indiana grower reported, "In Indiana. Can't buy, not even the newer low alkaloid."
Before you plant it, check your state's noxious-weed and invasive-species list and your local extension office. In much of the Upper Midwest and Northeast it's already naturalized on wet ground, and many operators are simply haying a volunteer stand on land that can't grow anything else — which is a very different thing from deliberately introducing it near a wetland or waterway. Be a good neighbor: don't seed it where it can escape into natural wet areas, and manage seed heads on the field edges.
Reed canary grass hay, start to finish
- Match it to the ground it's made for: wet creek bottoms, sloughs, and flood-prone flats where other forages drown.
- Choose a low-alkaloid variety (Palaton, Venture, Rival) if you're seeding, or manage the volunteer stand you already have.
- Cut early — boot to early head — for leafy 12–17% protein hay; second and third cuttings are the best quality.
- Feed the coarse first cutting as grinding hay, often blended with alfalfa; run a forage test so you know the numbers.
- Don't fight the wet ground: cut early, wilt to 50–60% moisture, bale tight, and wrap it wet with net wrap plus film as baleage.
- Respect the invasive risk: check your state's rules and keep it out of natural wetlands and waterways.
Reed canary grass will never be premium horse hay, and it doesn't need to be. Its job is to make good beef feed out of ground that would otherwise grow nothing — and wrapping it wet is how you actually get that feed in the barn.
Frequently asked questions
Is reed canary grass good feed for cattle?
Yes, when it's cut early or grown from a low-alkaloid variety. It's widely fed as grinding hay for beef cows, often blended with alfalfa, and second and third cuttings are leafy enough that even horses take them. Let it head out and mature, though, and it turns coarse and stemmy — more filler than quality feed.
Is reed canary grass toxic or bad for livestock?
Old, high-alkaloid stands taste bitter and reduce intake and gains, mostly under grazing. Low-alkaloid varieties like Palaton, Venture, and Rival were bred to fix that, and the alkaloids are far less of a problem in cured hay or fermented baleage than in fresh grazing. Choose an improved variety and feed it as hay and it's a solid forage.
When should you cut reed canary grass for hay?
As early as you can get on the ground — boot to early-head stage. Maturity governs quality more than anything: cut early and it's leafy beef hay, but let it get ahead of you and it goes to coarse stems fast. Second and third cuttings, taken young, are the finest, most palatable hay the crop makes.
What protein does reed canary grass hay test?
Cut on time it commonly tests 12–17% crude protein; one grower measured 12–14% on his second cutting. Protein and digestibility fall as it matures, so an over-ripe first cutting can drop well below that. Run a forage test on each cutting so you know what you're feeding and can supplement as needed.
Can you make baleage out of reed canary grass?
Yes — and it's often the best option. Reed canary grows on wet ground that's hard to dry hay on, so cutting early and wrapping it wet at 50–60% moisture preserves the leafy quality without waiting on a drying window. Bale tight on the silage setting, use net wrap as the inner layer, and wrap with 6–8 layers of film. Cattle tend to prefer the fermented product.
The XES Netting team manufactures bale net wrap for round balers and writes these guides so forage operators can find clear, source-cited answers. Every farmer quote in this post is verbatim with a link to the original HayTalk or AgTalk thread — go read the discussions in full.
Featured photo: Phalaris arundinacea (reed canary grass) in flower by Radio Tonreg, licensed under CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
