# Sudangrass



## wwwfagan72 (Aug 13, 2014)

We are in the mulch square bale business and have been convinced by our seed Rep to try sudangrass where we grew cereal rye in the fall. Essentially going to a double crop hay/ straw setup on some fields. My question, is anyone growing or tried sudangrass? Any luck? Any yield reports? 
Thanks in advance!
Will


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Sudan can take 5 or 6 days depending on local relative humidity to get hay dry enough to bale at 15% moisture. I've seen a lot of Sudan baled at too high moisture that turns brown especially if rd baled. If Sudan is allowed to grow too long it will produce a lot of bales per acre.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I think Sudan would work best in North GA when we hit the dry dog days of summer. If you live in the Mtn. region and get popup showers every 2-3 days Sudan may be hard to get dried down to a acceptable moisture level for baling.

I probably would only plant a small 5-10 acre patch this year and get the feel of Sudan as it is a different beast......drying and baling.

Regards, Mike


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

What kind of mulch? Will your buyers accept a large stemmed crop like sudan?


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## wwwfagan72 (Aug 13, 2014)

We sell to erosion people for grassing. We currently have about 25 acres in the ground that is just now popping up. Our seed rep told us the stem is about the size of a pencil so I feel like that will be fine if there is enough leafy material to balance it out. Our customers have never complained with pure johnsongrass so I don't forsee Sudan being any worse? We were told to cut every 40 days or 40 inches to reduce stem size and maximize yield.
I appreciate yalls responses as we are in the experimenting stage with this stuff.
Will


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

I hope you put the seed on thick of you will have stems bigger than a pencil...

Pearl Millet is another one to try. Its similar to Sudan but not as tall and less stems


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## wwwfagan72 (Aug 13, 2014)

We planted at 20 pounds per acre. Don't know if that was real high or not but that's what my Rep told us to go with. Or goal is to double crop cereal rye and either sudangrass or something else in the summer to maximize bales per acre per year. This isn't going as feed so quality doesn't matter. Just strictly bale count.


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## Circle MC Farms LLC (Jul 22, 2011)

I planted some for the first time this year,(gotcha plus sorghum-sudan at 50lb/acre) some looks really good and some has really fizzled due to lack of moisture (northeast Texas).


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Circle MC Farms

Sorry about the drought in your area. Drought is no fun to deal with. Back when my area experienced drought for several yrs we lost a lot of old/large trees. I'm old school but it amazes me of all the farming procedures that are performed back & forth rather than round & round. I realize the need of back & forth plowing to help keep soil level & the need to go back & forth for rowcrops but a lot of other back & forth procedures I don't understand. It appears to me a lot of time is lost turning on the ends vs going round & round.


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

I'm not gonna get into breaking it down or explains why but I can assure you going back and forth is by far the fastest and most efficient way I have found to cover ground.

I will say the tracks you see are sprayer tracks and if a sprayer tried to go round and round in every turn you'd be over applied on the inside of the boom and under applied on the outside.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Lewis Ranch said:


> I'm not gonna get into breaking it down or explains why but I can assure you going back and forth is by far the fastest and most efficient way I have found to cover ground.
> 
> I will say the tracks you see are sprayer tracks and if a sprayer tried to go round and round in every turn you'd be over applied on the inside of the boom and under applied on the outside.


I wasn't referring to spraying or fert. application. If going back & forth is faster then how does one make up for the lost time for the looping turns? Going round & round cutting,raking,baling,plowing,drilling seed one is nearly always covering previously untouched ground unlike large looping turns of back & forth. I'm not trying to get in a urinating contest I'd just wish someone could explain how it's faster not just state it's quicker because someone stated it's quicker. I also understand that the larger the equipment how it could be more beneficial. I also realize that SP windrower can reverse direction very quickly similar to a 0-turn lawnmower.

Thanks,Jim


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Tx Jim said:


> I wasn't referring to spraying or fert. application. If going back & forth is faster then how does one make up for the lost time for the looping turns? Going round & round cutting,raking,baling,plowing,drilling seed one is nearly always covering previously untouched ground unlike large looping turns of back & forth. I'm not trying to get in a urinating contest I'd just wish someone could explain how it's faster not just state it's quicker because someone stated it's quicker. I also understand that the larger the equipment how it could be more beneficial. I also realize that SP windrower can reverse direction very quickly similar to a 0-turn lawnmower.
> Thanks,Jim


I guess it comes down to what implement or equipment you are using. If pulling a 3pt mower it's not gonna make sense to go back and forth while I'm running an sp machine being just like your zero turn it's way faster going back and forth because you are turning more often with every round you make going round and round. I can't give you the technical answer you want but just try it sometime and see for yourself. For instance baling hay, even if it's cut round and round I much prefer to bale back and forth for the speed and ease of operation.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

I will throw one more reason (at least for alfalfa, IMHO), concentration of traffic/wheels being turned. Alfalfa's yields are effected by traffic and tires being turned. Back and forth puts more traffic (and turns) on the headlands, you don't have turns on every corner, to the center of the field. But this is in MY area, YOURS could be different (Michigan State study, IIRC). With this concentration, the headland yields suffer at the benefit of the remainder of the field.

Larry


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Lewis Ranch

Have you timed baling using both methods or you just estimating back & forth is faster? Have you or anyone ever seen any type documentation that back & forth is faster than round & round? I've seen my neighbors utilizing a 3 pt disc mower dividing fields in small lands virtually going back & forth I bet that is slower not to mention the amount of hay tractor tires mash down.
Thanks,Jim


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## CowboyRam (Dec 13, 2015)

Around here we farm on corrugated land, and it only makes sense to go back and forth for cutting and baling. Going across the corrugates will jar your insides loose, let alone is hard on the equipment. When cutting we make try to make three rounds around the perimeter of field before going back and forth. That going across the corrugates is slow going.


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## Circle MC Farms LLC (Jul 22, 2011)

I've never timed it or done anything scientifically but we seem to get a lot more done in a day going up and down. I have a hydraswing mower conditioner so we can cut back and forth, that said if it's in a small or cut up field I sometimes cut round and round. Either way we end up baling it back and forth, much straighter windrows and less clumping or missed hay is what I've found especially in thick hay. I custom bale a lot and when I finish a field I want to be done, not spending a bunch of time cleaning up corners. As far as plowing, most plows aren't designed to be used in a curve, especially a sharp one and will leave ridges/break stuff if you try it. We plow the headlands "in a circle" and then everything else is up and down. I also am able to seed without making a mess of my rows or having lots of skips. The people I see drill haygrazer round and round have little half circles between each pass where there is any sort of curve because you just can't hold a line around a curve very well.



Tx Jim said:


> I wasn't referring to spraying or fert. application. If going back & forth is faster then how does one make up for the lost time for the looping turns? Going round & round cutting,raking,baling,plowing,drilling seed one is nearly always covering previously untouched ground unlike large looping turns of back & forth. I'm not trying to get in a urinating contest I'd just wish someone could explain how it's faster not just state it's quicker because someone stated it's quicker. I also understand that the larger the equipment how it could be more beneficial. I also realize that SP windrower can reverse direction very quickly similar to a 0-turn lawnmower.
> 
> Thanks,Jim


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Tx Jim said:


> Lewis Ranch
> Have you timed baling using both methods or you just estimating back & forth is faster? Have you or anyone ever seen any type documentation that back & forth is faster than round & round? I've seen my neighbors utilizing a 3 pt disc mower dividing fields in small lands virtually going back & forth I bet that is slower not to mention the amount of hay tractor tires mash down.
> Thanks,Jim


There's no scientific research and although I've not been baling hay for 30+ years I've got over 60,000 rolls of experience that tells me back and forth is not only faster by a long shot but also as mc farms stated it leaves a cleaner field with less work.


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## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

I go up and down so I miss less when shooting the bales on the wagon.  I'm always hopping off on corners to retrieve a stray.


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## Flacer22 (Oct 31, 2009)

My hay fields are so steep that I sit on the back side of the seat going up and stand on the steering wheel going down . If I tried round and round I'd roll something down the hill for sure. So ya back and forth is faster for sure and I agree way less to clean up when done. I dont do alot of hay and I've noticed this even in my small amount of experience

Off topic but ever seen round bale do the long jump over a road??


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Flacer22 said:


> My hay fields are so steep that I sit on the back side of the seat going up and stand on the steering wheel going down . If I tried round and round I'd roll something down the hill for sure. So ya back and forth is faster for sure and I agree way less to clean up when done. I dont do alot of hay and I've noticed this even in my small amount of experience
> 
> Off topic but ever seen round bale do the long jump over a road??


Since I live on flat ground & have always farmed/baled on flat ground my pea size brain doesn't consider any other type topography especially hills. Yesterday I was talking to my neighbor whom customs bales hay about back & forth vs round & round and he had performed a test baling. He raked/baled a 15 acre field back & forth then raked/baled a 17 acre field round & round that took 30 minutes less to bale than 15 acre field. IMHO how much hay is or isn't left on the ground going round & round is determined by how good the rake tractor driver can drive a tractor.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Tx Jim said:


> Since I live on flat ground & have always farmed/baled on flat ground my pea size brain doesn't consider any other type topography especially hills. Yesterday I was talking to my neighbor whom customs bales hay about back & forth vs round & round and he had performed a test baling. He raked/baled a 15 acre field back & forth then raked/baled a 17 acre field round & round that took 30 minutes less to bale than 15 acre field. IMHO how much hay is or isn't left on the ground going round & round is determined by how good the rake tractor driver can drive a tractor.


Yeah, I agree...

We mow, rake, and bale round-n-round because that's how we always did it from the sicklebar days on... besides, how long does it take to make a big "X" across the field to get the corners that the drum mower misses?? Not long...

Later! OL J R


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