# Teff in Tennessee



## KRT (Jun 15, 2019)

I am looking for yalls opinions on Teff, I’ve heard a little about it, had some customers ask about it, but nobody that I talk to here local has tried it. All of my hay is orchard grass, Timothy mix which here in Tennessee it ain’t much of a mix after first cutting, I have finally found one variety of Timothy that I got 3 cutting out of last year, looked like it wasn’t gonna make it through the fall drought but perked up and looks like it could be pretty promising in the spring, anyway I’m mainly a tobacco man, so I’ll plant a field of whatever kinda hay I want keep it there 4 years or so then have tobacco there, then back to hay, so this year after the tobacco was outta the field I went in and drilled a variety of Timothy called zynetta, supposed to be a heavy hitter but kinda a one and done, but I’m interested in coming in right after I get the Timothy off and drilling Teff, my understanding is ittl still perform in the summer heat. Wondering about quality, is it easy to sell, does it yield fairly good in the south? Thanks


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Teff is a very aggravating and troublesome grass to grow. It is very difficult to get it to dry....it wants to re-absorb moisture at nighttime heavily. It lodges terribly, therefore you have a very short window to mow it at prime. If you are having weather challenges at that time you are screwed.

Most that have grown Teff just do so for one season or two. Teff is an African grass that likes desert type conditions and responds accordingly. Drier low moisture areas in this country can grow Teff much better than the folks East of the Mississippi River can.

And finally, Teff is very deceiving in feeling like it is dry enough to bale but actually still a bit too high in moisture to bale. When this is the case, it will mold in the bale.

Good luck to you and welcome to HayTalk.

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I would echo most of Mike's comments. I have grown teff 4 different seasons on different fields. All were conventional tillage recovering fields that had not been worked for decades. I love the hay as do horses and it's really good hay when you can make it. Regrows for a second, third and sometimes 4th cutting but post first cutting never was as good as 1st for me. I never had any issues getting it started. green fuz in a week to 10 days depending on moisture and you can't fudge on frost. Grows so fast and thick (I seeded at about 14#/ac that weeds are not an issue. It is a great crop to put in worked ground (meaning you worked it smooth) for quick cover then kill in fall for no till grass planting.

All of that said, it lodges terribly and kills itself quickly when lodging occurs. When you think it is ready to bale wait another day or two. Re-hydrates like crazy so if you are on damp ground you loose. You have about a 6 day window to harvest so if your weather isn't right, you loose. You should cut it at about 18" height before seed heads appear. Seed heads = more lodging chances and decreased quality of the hay itself. I have always thought it would be great for green chop or wet wrap but neither of those methods fit into my operation which is commercial hay sales. After first cutting at about 35 days from plant, you can cut subsequent cuttings on 28 day intervals. You need to get around 9-10$ a bale for it to pay consistently and the bales are heavy if made correctly. good luck


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

We plant Teff on fields we are refurbing in the spring to realize some revenue off the field over the summer until we can plant a perennial. Most folks I know that have grown Teff, including myself, have a love hate relationship with it. When it clicks, it is excellent forage, yield is good and horse customers will pay a premium to get it. When it doesn't click, it's not good. It is a thin grass and can lodge easily. If it goes to seed, it's done. When you get ready to bale, if you think it's ready, wait another day or hit it with hay preservative. Don't get greedy, cut it earlier while it's still standing and before it goes to seed.

We are going to try planting some Teff this summer in a couple of fields - fingers crossed.

Good luck!
Bill


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## Farmineer95 (Aug 11, 2014)

About the seeding method: it is a very small seed, smaller than alfalfa. If you go this route, order coated seed so it can be metered more accurately. Plant 1/4" or less. Anything deeper than 1/2" will not emerge. Plant into a firm seedbed. Plant with soil temps above 60 degrees. Plant a pure stand, it doesn't like competition.
As was stated, it is deceiving if it is dry. It looks like a fine stem but there is more meat to it, not hollow, holds more moisture. 
Other than these challenges, it's great feed, cattle eat it before other grass mixes.
In our area, it gets used as an emergency forage.


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## KRT (Jun 15, 2019)

Thanks for all the information, guess that’s why I haven’t ran into many guys around here trying to grow it, did talk to one guy at the local CO-OP one day and he was gonna try it first time, and they were mixing it with fertilizer to spread and I guess he was just gonna cultipack it in maybe, but haven’t seen him since to get a update, but guess he was goin that route, like y’all say tryin to get it in the top 1/4” or so. That may not work well for me, a lot of my fields have at least a fence row or woods around them, and it’s hard enough to get hay to dry down sometimes, unless we have a week of good weather and the humidity ain’t to high. I know this is veering off topic, but have any of you found a variety of orchard or Timothy you like that has a pretty strong summer re-growth? Years ago when I started I would just plant Potomac, or just whatever the feed mills had, since then I’ve found some that are improved but always looking for somthin better that somebody’s having good luck out of


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Have you tried Persist Orchard grass? For me, it is the most prolific Orchard grass that I have found yet. Its number one characteristic is that it can survive our late summer droughts.....hence its name....it is very lasting. The grass was developed by a Univ. of TN professor who basically went around to old abandon farm sites and collected seed from Orchard grass plants that were still growing on these long abandoned farm sites. It took him about ten years of collecting and growing seed to get enough to be test plotted. Things went well and he had his seed commercially grown. For this part of the world, I don't think there is any better variety. I am in the ongoing process of re-doing all of my Orchard fields with this variety. About $3.75 per pound at my local co op.

Regards, Mike


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## ja_cain (Dec 9, 2019)

Vol said:


> Have you tried Persist Orchard grass? For me, it is the most prolific Orchard grass that I have found yet. Its number one characteristic is that it can survive our late summer droughts.....hence its name....it is very lasting. The grass was developed by a Univ. of TN professor who basically went around to old abandon farm sites and collected seed from Orchard grass plants that were still growing on these long abandoned farm sites. It took him about ten years of collecting and growing seed to get enough to be test plotted. Things went well and he had his seed commercially grown. For this part of the world, I don't think there is any better variety. I am in the ongoing process of re-doing all of my Orchard fields with this variety. About $3.75 per pound at my local co op.
> 
> Regards, Mike


My friend just planted some of this with some annual ryegrass. Looking forward to seeing how it does next summer. Do you know if it's a later heading variety?


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## FCF (Apr 23, 2010)

I agree with what Mike said about Persist, best I have found for the warmer climate in the south. The cost that I paid this fall was about a dollar a pound less than what Mike stated, it has been coming down in price, bought some in the spring that was higher and the dealer said it had come down from the previous fall.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

ja_cain said:


> Do you know if it's a later heading variety?


No, unfortunately it is not. Kinda like the old Potomac. But, here it does not do a lot of good to have a later maturing variety if the grass cannot survive but 1-3 years here.

Regards, Mike


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## KRT (Jun 15, 2019)

I have planted just a little of the persist, I have a field that’s a pretty good stand but thought it could be better so this year, I think it was the first day of spring, I no-tilled in about 8# to the acre of persist, cross ways of my original rows, but I got a little discouraged with it bc I never did see many results from it, all I could come up with is maybe the existing orchard over took it, I guess by the time it would be trying to emerge the original grass was really jumping, I normally plant allied seeds fsg506 but this year every bag I dumped in the drill smelt like it had been laying around the warehouse a year, and I don’t think I’ll be satisfied with the stand this spring, I probably should go back to the Persist brand, when you re-do yours are you starting from scratch? Burn down or till and completely re plant or just freshen up what you have?


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I would not recommend teff. I have tried it several different times hoping I would get different results with no luck. As others have said lodging is a major issue and it always seemed to go flat before I could get it cut due to weather. Yields when cut very early to avoid lodging were always a disappointment. I never had much luck with getting much regrowth after first cutting on it either. Also as others have said it can be hard to dry and is deceiving when trying to determine if it's dry enough.

As far as orchard grass varieties like Mike said Persist would be a good one to try. Endurance would be another to look at. Definitely need a variety developed in the south to withstand our summers. Endurance is a UGA developed variety distributed by DLF seeds. Supposed to even be tolerant to grazing. It is sold by Southeast Agriseeds, Athens Seeds, and Byron Seeds.

I have yet to find a Timothy variety that gives much of any regrowth after first cutting here. Works great as a single cut hay crop though.

Hayden


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Endurance orchard grass http://www.dlfpickseed.com/Files/Files/DLF_Pickseed_USA/DLF_Tech_Sheets/Forage/Orchardgrass/Endurance_ts.pdf

Hayden


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## ja_cain (Dec 9, 2019)

Hayden,

That Endurance looks awesome on paper. The heavy grazing tolerance is especially interesting. I do practice rotational grazing with netting and separate paddocks, but I'm not always perfect since I work full time while doing the sheep gig. I wonder how early it could be grazed if planted early spring and we had decent rainfall? Thanks for sharing!

Justin


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

KRT said:


> I have planted just a little of the persist, I have a field that's a pretty good stand but thought it could be better so this year, I think it was the first day of spring, I no-tilled in about 8# to the acre of persist, cross ways of my original rows, but I got a little discouraged with it bc I never did see many results from it, all I could come up with is maybe the existing orchard over took it, I guess by the time it would be trying to emerge the original grass was really jumping, I normally plant allied seeds fsg506 but this year every bag I dumped in the drill smelt like it had been laying around the warehouse a year, and I don't think I'll be satisfied with the stand this spring, I probably should go back to the Persist brand, when you re-do yours are you starting from scratch? Burn down or till and completely re plant or just freshen up what you have?


I try to always plant Orchard in the fall. I've just not had a great deal of success with spring plantings here in the Mid-South. I try to plant in late September/early October time frame. If you plant much earlier, it tends to sit waiting on moisture at that time of year. I also have better success with a mowing/baling of the existing grass pretty short right before planting.

My very best stands come from a complete burndown, but that is not possible in many instances.

Regards, Mike


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## mstuck21 (Oct 4, 2019)

This was the first year I tried teff. A local guy had tried it the previous year and raved about the results so I tried it. I had planted timothy the fall before, took the first cutting of timothy off, remade the ground and planted the teff the first week of June. The hay held color and was really soft from the fine stems, I had no problem selling locally.

In addition to what the others have said heres a couple things I experienced/saw:

1. Seed is super small. I had mine blended with fertilizer also since we don't have a drill and it doesn't fly worth a darn. Had some skips in the field due to my operating skills. Drill would be best bet in my opinion.

2. Secure your seed early. The co-op said they would have no problem getting me seed, but after I had the ground made I called to go pick-up and they said they couldn't get anymore. Having ground ready and no seed is not fun during a wet spring like this last one.

3. Do not cut too low if you want multiple cuttings. I was told cutting 3" or less will kill the stand.

4. Do not rake too early. As others mentioned teff holds moisture really well. Very fined stems have a lot of surface area. The first cutting I raked late morning and thought everything was good to go, went to bale @ 1 pm and the moisture meter said 25%. I was fortunate that next day was sunny and dry so I didn't have to rush it.

5. Last thing I noticed is somewhat hard to describe but they don't hold a ratchet strap very well when you load a trailer. The teff is so fine-stemmed it doesn't actually make flakes in the bale like say alfalfa. Teff bales are solid, but if you cut the strings and kick it, you'll have a big loose pile. Usually when I load alfalfa and don't have too far to go, I run two straps longways down the trailer and call it good. I did this on my first load of teff and pulled over to add more straps. I averaged 50# bales and don't think they were loose junk by any means (my opinion again) but they didn't seem to ride well. I didn't stack the next loads as high.

I'm going to plant teff again, but there's my 2 cents.


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## scout (Jan 14, 2015)

I tried Teff in north Texas under a pivot. I plant a lot of alfalfa so basically prepared the seedbed like I was going to plant alfalfa and used a brillion seeder to plant it. Got a good stand, weeds were a bit of a problem but not terrible (used MCPA for broadleaves; just had to grin and bear the Johnson grass). I planted 20#, which I'm thinking was a little high (think I set the seeder at 15 but ended up at 20). One of the big questions was how much fertilizer; I ended up putting out 200# of a blend before planting and then 66 units of nitrogen each cutting. Plan on dropping that to closer to 50 units this coming year. Calves (planted primarily for calves) and nutritionist love it, but I think it's a pain. I agree with the wait on baling it; very deceptive. Next problem is the shallow root structure. In the heat of the summer, I'm concentrating the majority of the water to alfalfa. When I slowed down the water on the Teff, it turned brown. Get a rain or hit it with irrigation and it greened back up. Took me a little bit to figure out that the roots were shallow and the upper couple of inches of the soil just dries out too fast.

Ended up with two cuttings. Planted the first of June and think I was a little late. I figure that if I get it planted on time, should easily get three cuttings.

Not much different information than what has already been stated. Appreciate all of the other comments.

Jeff


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