# Piper sudangrass



## kentuckyguy (Apr 13, 2015)

I'm thinking of trying to plant piper sudangrass this year in place of pearl millet. We usually only plant about 5 acres of summer annuals to give a boost in our hay production.

In the past the pearl millet has always given lots of volume but it never fails that we get a rain right before it's ready to cut. Seems like it always get a little to over mature on us due to weather.

I've read that piper sudangrass is a little easier to get dry and has a better feed quality. I first looked at sorghum sudan's but in our humid weather I don't think I could ever get it dry enough to bale. Generally when we cut millet with a cutter conditioner it takes 4-5 days before it's ready to bale.

For those of you who have grown piper sudan what attributes and drawbacks does it have vs pearl millet? Is it really easier to dry down than millet? Did it have good regrowth? Feed value?

Thanks


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## Three44s (May 21, 2016)

I do not know beans about pearl millet but have raised piper Sudan and hayed it.

We planted at a high seed rate (60#/ ac.) and had fine stems .... that likely helped in the dry down.

We are in eastern WA and in an area that is short on dew but our second cutting was during cooler weather and we get dew then.

So take our experience with the grain of salt.

We experienced huge windrows (14' wide cut 1118 NH swather) and I thought we would be raking until kingdom come but that was not the case but the late cutting was raked a couple of times. We cut at the recommended 40" height but some of it was variable in height and thus some taller. The late cutting was lighter so that helped drying in the cooler weather.

For quick regrowth and better windrow drying cut high. A thick stubble (high seeding rate) also cut high will help get air under it to dry faster and you have more plant left to spring back for successive cuttings.

We don't have a Tedder but in wetter climates I think it would be needed with a good heavy Sudan cutting. A wider conditioner than ours would be great. A Haybine perhaps?

Upon feeding the Sudan hay all our cattle and our few horses liked it very well. Count me a fan of it.

My .02 worth

Three44s


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## kentuckyguy (Apr 13, 2015)

I think I'm going to give it a try. Haven't been able to find much on feed analysis of piper sudan put up dry but I figure it should be similar to millet.

The small stalks would be a big help. When the rain would move in just as the millet was in the boot stage, our small stalks would turn to almost corn stalk size in a week.


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