Planting sorghum with Deere 7200 planter

tomstractorsandtoys

Well-known Member
I want to try a few acres of a forage sorghum after we chop rye. This variety I want to plant in rows and chop with the corn head on our forage harvester. I have a Deere 7200 finger pickup planter and have corn meters,soybean cups and also radial soybean meters. Will any of these work? Or do I need to but something else? My seed dealer uses a 7200 vacuum planter and he lives to far away to use his planter. He has been growing this sorghum in rows and chopping it with a corn head for several years and likes the feed amount and quality. The direct chopping appeals to me because I have limited help in the fall and this would be easier than cutting,wilting and using a pickup head. I need a forage with lower energy than corn silage for our beef herd.What do other people use to plant sorghum as this is a new crop in this area. Thanks Tom
 
Your soybean cups are what you will use but you will have to install sorghum cups and cutoff plates in them. Your operator's manual will explain. Mike
 
Tom, grain sorghum isn't all that different from corn silage when it comes to energy content. It is a little lower, but not all that much. Have you considered corn stalks? We've made corn stalk silage since the late 70s for dry cow and heifer feed. If done right, it does work, and is a bit like a second harvest from a crop you already grow.

Grain sorghum has been done in WI before, but hasn't been all that successful in the past. Sprouting in the head due to wet, humid weather can be a big issue- one not seen in places like Kansas, etc, where you more typically see sorghum.
 
I have used stalks in the past as heifer feed when we had dairy cows. My problem is we have downsized our land base and we live in some fairly rolling land and we leave our stalks untill spring then bale them before planting beans. I am not sure that sorghum is the answer but I always liked to try some new and different things on a small scale. Thanks for the ideas and thought. Tom
 
Tom : Sloan Express, parts , has guide plate & sorghum / milo cup to convert bean cups to sorghum cups; We have a set of factory sorghum cups for our 7000 & 7200 planters, we have used they a couple times for Grain sorghum [milo] , but for forage sorghum & sorghum-sudan cross, we couldn't get a heavy enough planting rate ,with sorghum cup, we just use soybean cup set at slowest speed ; gives us 18 to 20 lb. acre in wide rows.. Which for us give finer stem silage & tons per acre, We plant forage BMR. sorghum right before corn planting [ because late maturing] & BMR. sorghum-sudan [much earlier maturing] after first crop hay is off or winter grains are done.. Depend on yr. we've had yields as high as 15 to 20 ton acre. BMR. highly digestible.. higher sugar content than corn silage, more palatable .. we feed to dairy herd , winter feed for grass fed beef , & stock cows,.. we usually have to wait for hard freeze to get moisture low enough to ensilage...
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