Texas Panhandle dairymen are looking for growers to produce wheat or triticale silage, say two Texas Cooperative Exten-sion specialists.

Ellen Jordan, extension dairy specialist in Dallas, says dairies moving into the panhandle are finding wheat silage works as an excellent forage.

"We will probably be seeing more people consider growing wheat for silage as an alternative to growing it for grain," Jordan says. "It will be on a year-by-year basis, depending on the price for a crop, vs. the price for si-lage.

Dairy producers are seeking growers out, adds Brent Bean, extension agronomist in Amarillo. They want small grain si-lage, whether it be wheat or triticale.

"We probably saw more go that way this year because the po-tential for a good grain crop looked minimal," Bean says. "Also, they cut it for silage so they wouldn't have to keep watering it."

Growers are asking more questions about varieties and qual-ity as well as tonnage, he says. More test plots of triti-cale and wheat varieties are being planted to compare strictly their silage potential.