6 Best Winter Peas For Early Spring Grazing That Old Farmers Swear By

That late winter, early spring period is the toughest time for a livestock owner on a small farm. Hay supplies are dwindling, the animals are restless, and the main pastures are still weeks away from waking up. Planting a fall cover crop of winter peas is the single best trick I know to bridge that hungry gap and get green, high-protein forage into your animals when they need it most.

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Why Winter Peas Boost Early Spring Forage

Winter peas are a game-changer because they do their hard work during the cool seasons when most other forages are completely dormant. Planted in the fall, they establish a strong root system before the deep cold sets in. Then, as soon as the very first hint of spring warmth arrives, they explode with growth, providing lush grazing weeks before your perennial pastures are ready.

Beyond just feed, these legumes are masters of soil improvement. They are nitrogen-fixers, meaning they pull nitrogen from the atmosphere and store it in nodules on their roots. When the plants are grazed or tilled in, that nitrogen is released, providing a free, natural fertilizer for the crop that follows. This simple act builds soil fertility year after year, reducing your need for outside inputs.

The quality of the forage is the final piece of the puzzle. Winter peas are packed with protein, which is exactly what livestock need coming out of winter, especially for pregnant or lactating ewes, goats, or cows. This high-octane feed helps them regain condition, boosts milk production, and gets young animals off to a roaring start.

Austrian Winter Pea: The Old-Timer’s Standby

If you only know one type of winter pea, it’s probably this one. Austrian Winter Peas are the dependable, go-to variety that farmers have relied on for generations, and for good reason. They offer a fantastic balance of cold tolerance, biomass production, and seed availability. You can find them almost anywhere, and they just plain work.

Their reliability is their greatest strength. They aren’t the absolute best in any single category—some varieties are more cold-hardy, others produce more tonnage—but they never disappoint. For someone just starting with winter annuals, the Austrian Winter Pea is the safest bet. It provides a solid, predictable outcome across a wide range of conditions, making it an excellent baseline to judge other varieties against.

Icicle Winter Pea for Unmatched Cold Hardiness

For those of us farming in northern climates or at higher elevations, winterkill is a real and constant threat. A beautiful stand of fall growth can be wiped out by a polar vortex, leaving you with nothing but mud in the spring. This is where Icicle winter peas earn their keep; they were specifically bred to survive brutal winters.

Think of Icicle as specialized insurance. If your winters regularly dip well below zero with little snow cover, the extra cost for this seed is easily justified. It can mean the difference between having a lush spring pasture and a failed one. For farmers in more moderate climates, however, it might be overkill. The hardiness of a standard Austrian pea is often more than enough.

Frosty Winter Pea: High-Protein Grazing Power

While all winter peas offer good nutrition, Frosty is a standout for forage quality. It was developed to produce highly palatable, leafy growth with an exceptionally high crude protein content. This makes it an ideal choice when your goal is top-tier nutrition for finishing animals or supporting peak milk production.

The tradeoff for this high quality can sometimes be slightly less overall biomass compared to a variety bred purely for tonnage. But what you might lose in bulk, you gain in nutritional density. A pasture of Frosty peas mixed with a high-energy cereal grain like oats or triticale creates a nearly perfect ration right on the hoof, reducing your reliance on expensive bagged feed.

Whistler Winter Pea: A Top Choice for Mixes

Peas are vines, and without support, they can form a dense, tangled mat on the ground that is difficult to graze effectively and can be prone to rot. Whistler winter peas solve this problem with their aggressive vining habit and excellent standability. They are designed to be planted in a mix, using a cereal grain as a natural trellis.

This variety expertly climbs up stalks of triticale, winter rye, or oats, lifting the entire canopy off the ground. This improves air circulation, reduces disease pressure, and makes the forage much easier for animals to graze. Planting Whistler in a mix creates a more productive, resilient, and balanced pasture than a pure stand of any single species could ever be.

Dunn Field Pea: A Versatile Forage Favorite

The Dunn pea is a classic field pea that walks the line between a true winter pea and a spring pea. This versatility is its superpower. It has enough cold tolerance to be planted in the fall in many regions for early spring grazing, but it also performs exceptionally well when planted in the very early spring for a summer forage crop.

This flexibility is perfect for a hobby farmer whose schedule can be unpredictable. If your fall planting window gets away from you, you can hold onto your Dunn seed and know you have a great option for the spring. It’s a reliable producer of palatable, high-quality forage, making it a valuable tool to have in your seed shed.

Lynx Winter Pea: Rapid Growth for Quick Feed

Sometimes, speed is what you need most. If you’re planting late or need to get a protective cover on the ground before winter weather hits, Lynx is your variety. It is known for its incredible fall vigor and rapid establishment, allowing it to outcompete early weeds and put on significant growth before going dormant.

This fast start is a huge advantage. It means more solar collection, more root development, and a stronger plant heading into the coldest months. While it may not have the top-end cold hardiness of a variety like Icicle, its ability to get established quickly makes it a resilient and powerful choice for getting a jump on the season.

Seeding Tips for a Lush Winter Pea Pasture

Getting a good stand isn’t about luck; it’s about getting the basics right. Timing is everything. You need to get the seed in the ground 4 to 6 weeks before your first hard killing frost. This gives the peas enough time to germinate and establish a solid root system before winter dormancy hits.

Don’t just throw the seed on top of the ground. Peas need good seed-to-soil contact to germinate well. For a small plot, you can broadcast the seed and then rake it in vigorously. On a slightly larger scale, a drill or even discing the ground lightly after broadcasting will dramatically improve your success rate.

Finally, two things are non-negotiable for a great pea stand:

• Use a nurse crop. Always plant your peas with a cereal grain like winter rye, triticale, or oats. The grain acts as a trellis for the peas to climb, adds carbohydrates to balance the high protein, and increases your total forage tonnage.
• Inoculate your seed. Peas require a specific type of soil bacteria (rhizobia) to fix nitrogen. Unless you’ve grown peas in that exact spot recently, you must treat your seed with the correct inoculant right before planting. It’s cheap, easy, and it’s the key to unlocking the pea’s nitrogen-fixing magic for your soil.

Choosing the right winter pea comes down to knowing your climate and your goals—whether you need ultimate cold hardiness, maximum protein, or just a reliable old standby. No matter which you choose, planning ahead with a fall-sown pea pasture is one of the most rewarding things you can do. That first day you turn your animals out onto a lush, green field while your neighbors are still feeding hay is a feeling of true farming satisfaction.