Sorguhm as forage?

RedRoundhead · Nov 5, 2013

Hello there,

Long story short, I have about 5 acres of hilly sand that nothing does real good in. Corn does kinda OK.

Would I be better off planting sorguhm? I hear it does well in dry soils. I am located in NE Wisconsin, and I have no experience with it.

Do any of you guys have any experience with sorguhm as a forage? Or as a combineable grain? It will be fed to beef cattle. Pigs too, if I combine it for grain.

I appreciate any comments or ideas.

Thank You!

rrlund · Nov 5, 2013

Dad used to mix it in with the seed corn for silage corn. A guy out east of town had a three row self propelled chopper,he would plant so he was chopping two rows of corn and one row sorghum at a time. I don't know how it would be alone.

notjustair · Nov 5, 2013

Wouldn't it be a lot like sedan? We made both sileage and bales out of sedan. That's all the cattle ate growing up. I would think it would be fine, but I have no idea what nutrition is in it.

JWalker · Nov 5, 2013

I plant a mixture of it and Sudan grass. It makes a good forage, but there re some cautions. When extremely dry it is like corn, you have to watch for nitraite poisoning . It can be grazed up to frost, but if frost hits it you need to pull cows off of it that day. When grazing it put them on it at about 24-30 inches tall and pull them off at about 18 inches. It can be grazed multiply times. It can be bailed for hay but it is hard to dry down and you only get one cutting.

It has not done well for me on poor sandy soil. If you have built the soil some it does much better.

JWalker

Brendon-KS · Nov 5, 2013

Sorghum, or milo as we call it, is popular here in Kansas. As you have heard, it requires a lot less water than corn. Even in drought years you can expect at least some yield and in good years 100 bu/acre or better isn't uncommon. Plus, the seed cost is a fraction of corn; a 50-lb bag can plant ten acres or more depending on the seed size. I've heard of chopping it but have never personally seen it done; I don't believe the tonnage per acre would not be real impressive because it is not a tall crop. My FIL grows quite a bit and runs the grain through a roller mill to be mixed in with hay and silage for his cattle herd.

Combining it is pretty easy as long as it doesn't go down. (This is why modern varieties are bred to be short.) You can use a regular platform header but a Deere row-crop head works better if it isn't still all standing.

One thing to keep in mind is that it is a crop that thrives on hot weather. Even here in Kansas we don't plant it before early May because it requires warm soil. (As a reference, we plant corn in early April.) Since you live in NE Wisconsin this might present a challenge.

Tx Jim · Nov 6, 2013

Brendon
I always hated to have to get close to a combine that had been harvesting Milo. No amount of bathing/showering would relieve the ITCH that Milo gave me.

randallinMo · Nov 6, 2013

I wonder what your Dad thought the adantage to that was? Drought insurance? Do you ever remember him saying why he did it like that? Now, was he planting milo or sorghumn/sudan grass in that third row? We used to plant what we called "sorgho" which would get 14' tall in with the corn. This gave us more tonnage in the event of a drought. 'Haven't seen this done for years though now.

rrlund · Nov 6, 2013

This was years ago. It was the old tall sorghum. Back then,Dad used to shell corn right out of the crib for silage corn. I guess he went with a little bit bigger seed plate and just mixed the seed together in the same hopper.

I'm assuming Milton had a six row planter at the time or something and just filled two hoppers with sorghum seed instead of seed corn. I remember seeing it growing and seeing him chop it. He was THE big dairy around here back in the day. I remember that old big Fox self propelled chopper.

As far as why they did it? I don't know. Dad just used to say the sorghum was sweeter.

hayray · Nov 6, 2013

I bale some every year that a neighbor plants just to keep some land in ag. production. It is not as good forage as just straight grass and legume mix and after several years I have decided it makes better economic sense to plant a long term perennial crop like hay if you are going to feed it. It can get over mature fast and when that happens utilization by cattle drops fast. The window with perennial hay is longer.

Brendon-KS · Nov 6, 2013

Yeah, that is one drawback! I've combined milo with
my Allis All-Crop and the lack of a cab was sure
noticed. Must be something about the seed hulls
that makes it so itchy.

RedRoundhead · Nov 7, 2013

Thank you all for your comments!

I have been reading up on it a bit, but practical experience always is better than what is in a book.

Thanks again.

willie in mn · Nov 14, 2013

Back in the mid 50's my Dad did the same thing. Corn in one row, sorgum in the other. With a single row chopper it got layered in wagon box, then the blower mixed it at the silo.
He said it was sweeter & the cows liked it, ate more of the mix than straight corn.
Willie

Sorguhm as forage?

RedRoundhead

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rrlund

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notjustair

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JWalker

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Brendon-KS

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Tx Jim

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randallinMo

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rrlund

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hayray

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Brendon-KS

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RedRoundhead

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willie in mn

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