# Teach me about sorghum/sudangrass



## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

I'd like to seed some annual grass and have heard good things about sorghum/sudangrass. Please tell me what I need to know to grow it. Am planning on seeding after I cut and chop my barley/oats/forage pea mix. Usually do that middle to end of June. Thanks fellas!!


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

How do you want to harvest it and to be fed to what?


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

I figured I could bale it, to be fed to beef cows.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

We can't get it dry enough for hay here. Straight Sudan is far easier to dry if that is your goal.


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

Sudan grass would be your safest bet for feed. Sorghum can be a hazard if it's not put up right, due to prussic acid. Sorghum sudan grass falls in the middle.

Sorghum , or milo, is more typically grown for grain. We have cut the grain and then cut and chopped the stubble. Sudan grass has very aggressive growth, tolerates heat and drought. Can be a problem in a wet year. Crop is so high in sugar, it will rot in the field if cut and then rain comes. We have literally chopped it onto the ground just to get rid of the windrows in a wet summer in SE Iowa. We typically put out some sudan grass as insurance against drought forecasts.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I agree sorghum sudan would be hard to get dry here.I did some back in the days of setaside acres.It does not dry here very well at all.Out west where its popular and a dryer climate it can take take 10-14 days to get it dry.Balege or chopping it maybe a better option.

sudan grass would be finer and dry a little better.Heres some good info on it.
http://www.producerschoiceseed.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/HiGestManagmenetGuide.pdf

Other options could be Oats,Millet,Annual Ryegrass.


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

Sorghum especially BMR can be a high quality high yield forage. It is best harvested as silage or grazed. Mel


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

I plant a BMR sudex. I bale it up wet and wrap it with a tubeline wrapper. I like it. You would never be able to get it dry enough here to bale as dry hay.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I planted some BMR sorghum sudan grass last year. The variety was alta seeds as6402. I planted it the last weekend of June at a rate of 50 pounds per acre to help get a smaller stem that would dry quicker. I took fist cut off about 2 weeks later than I wanted because of all the rain we had.....this stuff grows extremely fast in warm weather....in two weeks it went from chest high to higher than my head. I was afraid it would never dry out since it got so large but to my surprise I cut one day and let it lay 2 days and was baling on the 4th day....I did Ted it twice. It made 130 bales per acre. It was ready to cut again in a month but I decide since I would not be cutting it again I would let it accumulate some more growth. This was a mistake as by now it was getting cooler and the couple more weeks I let it stand it didn't grow very much and I cut it the end of October right before a frost. It took 3 additional days to dry due to the shorter days and cool weather. In hindsight I should have cut it the first of October when we had decent drying weather as I really didn't gain any growth by waiting....the cool days shut it down. 2nd cut made 75 bales per acre.

For dry hay Prussia acid isn't supposed to be a problem as it vaporizes during the curing process. If you have a drought nitrate poisoning could be an issue.....but that can happen with other annual crops also.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

This is the field when I was mowing 2nd cut. I'll take a picture of some of the bales tomorrow....I was pleased with how leafy the hay turned out.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Pretty pics Cline. 2 or 3 more months maybe we can see green again...


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Nice looking sorghum sudangrass Farmer Cline. We plant it on wetter fields that we don't want to risk planting corn. Usually plant some time in June and let it grow till it heads out usually 3 of so months. Warm and moist conditions and it grows quick. Usually cut at 6inch stubble height to keep it out of the dirt and because we don't pick rocks in sorghum sudangrass fields. Usually lay it for a day and chop it and bag it. This year we mowed it and stated chopping right away and then got a thunderstorm after three loads and got an inch of rain or so on the rest. Chopped the next day...had a river of juice running out of the bagger. To my surprise it make really good feed. Wouldn't mind drying it for hay but i have a hard time drying hay let alone sorghum sudan. We just feed it to hiefers . It makes beautiful feed.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

I like it. Its part of my crp ground reclamation program for smothering out weeds. I live in a highly regulated watershed so spraying is very limited. I have to put cattle on when I plant itas it doesn't sell well in my area. I usually make baleage out of it. Dry hay I would go with straight sudan grass.


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