# Sorghum-Sudangrass



## arrandha (Mar 12, 2012)

I have few acres of Sorghum-Sudan grass hybrid here in India. Want to make hay but never done it before. I have few questions if anyone is able to help.

- We dont have any modern equipment here, how difficult is it to get sorghum-sudangrass dry - weather is not a problem rarely rains.

- what is the ideal stage of cutting

Thanks!


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## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

If you have older equipment: This is what I would do. Dont let it get to tall and stocky. I would cut it when its about thigh or waist high. It will grow back quick enough to cut it again and maybe a third time. When it gets stocky, it is a lot harder to dry. In the past, I was able to mow it once and graze it twice. Or another time, mow it twice and graze it at the end. It all just depends on what ur wanting to do with it. If you google sudan grass, look at the images. You will see some very tall stuff on there and some shorter stuff. The first time we planted it, we let it get 6 ft tall. It was a real pain to get it dried out. I think it sit there for 5 days. It looks pretty cool and it makes a lot of hay but its way too hard to get it dry and it will be very hard on an older baler.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Here around my area it is grown to the Boot Stage then cut down . It takes a while to dry down and cure , let it cure before bailing unless you do shocks ?Most of what we grow is irrigated and our seeding rate is high so we can get a finer stem on it. Hardley ever let it headed out. My swathers have steel conditioner rolls and it breaks the stalk every 4 or 5 inches apart which aids in drying time.


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## arrandha (Mar 12, 2012)

Thanks for the advice. Or land is irrigated as well so putting some extra seed is a good idea. What can be the maximum seed rate. I was thinking of 15 Kg/acre.

Also what do you guys think of making haylage vs hay. Can we cut it around 36-48 inches for haylage.


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

We always put it up as silage, faster and easier on equipment than baling. Makes very good feed, if you can get it put up right. I would also try to cut about waist high. We have cut sudan grass that was a talla s the cab of our NH 1499 windrower (maybe 10') but it was terrible to get processed: hard on the mower/conditioner, hard on the forage harvester. The lack of rainfall will be in your favor, we have had sudan get rained on, the crop ended up rotting in the windrows by the time the field was dry enough to harvest, ended up processing the crop and blowing it on the ground.


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## arrandha (Mar 12, 2012)

@aawhite I think, I will go with silage as well. How long should we dry it before ensiling in bunkers (ie moisture level). If someone is doing it first time, what is easy way to check moisture level?


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

Length of drying time is a matter of your humidity and sunshine. We would try to be around 65% moisture. Sudan, if too wet, will generate a lot of runoff from the pile. Sometimes we would go with a much dryer intital layer to help soak up extra moisture. We didn't use a moisture tester, we just went by visual inspection and feel of the silage after cutting. We rarely put sudan grass in the bunker, most of the time it was in a Harvestor silo, concrete staves, or 10 foot by 300 foot sialge bags.


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