# Beans and Millet



## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

Worked up about 5 acres of ground this weekend and I have to say it's probably some of the best ground I have ever seen in this part of the country. I'm thinking about planting some beans and millet to cut for hay this year and then figure out what kind of permanent stand I want to plant by fall. I have never messed with beans and millet and would love some advice on when/how to plant, when to cut, etc. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

--Kyle


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## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

Am I the only one crazy enough to try and make bean and millet hay? LOL.

--Kyle


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## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

Once they are planted it should make good feed I would think. The difference in seed size may make for some difficulty planting.


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## Don Pine (Feb 2, 2012)

Kyle,

Don't know what you're feeding, but why do you want bean AND millet? With a good piece of ground I'd go with straight millet and bring in a load of great hay. I've heard of the combo, but I don't see how the beans could hope to compete with a good stand of millet (I'm talking Pearl Millet).

Don


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## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

Don,

Thanks for the input. YOur the second guy around who has stated that maybe I should plant straight millet. I would be putting this hay up in small square bales to sell. I have cattle and horses that I feed myself. Does the pearl millet have a large stem? What type of feed would the pearl millet hay be good for? When do you cut it and what is the best way to plant it? Thanks for all your input.

--Kyle


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## scrapiron (Mar 10, 2010)

Kyle: I have been thinking of doing the same thing. What kind of beans & what kind of millet you thinking of using ? How many pounds of each per acre ?

scrapiron


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## Don Pine (Feb 2, 2012)

We had quite a discussion on PM earlier this spring: http://www.haytalk.com/forums/f2/pearl-millet-hay-5220/ Lot of info in that thread.

My cattle -love- it. Sold some hay to the neighbor and he came to the same conclusion.

I had to give away a few small squares to get my horse customers to try it (it sure doesn't look like their usual grass hay). The reports I got back were "Yeah, they eat it OK." But there were no reports of the same enthusiasm shown by the cattle.

Large stems? No. And yes. I try to cut mine at 36 to 40". At that height stem diameter isn't a problem. But PM can go from perfect to too big in a week's time. And of course then larger stems are harder to get dried down (and the critters won't want to eat them).

I drill mine. I try to get it plenty thick to keep the stems smaller. It'll be up 5 days after planting (if the soil is warm). First cutting last year was 30 days after planting. I expect 3 cuttings in a normal year.

Hope that covers your questions.


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## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Don Pine said:


> Kyle,
> 
> Don't know what you're feeding, but why do you want bean AND millet? With a good piece of ground I'd go with straight millet and bring in a load of great hay. I've heard of the combo, but I don't see how the beans could hope to compete with a good stand of millet (I'm talking Pearl Millet).
> 
> Don


Don,

I am fixin to plant my hay crop for the year and have pearl and Bahia that I am going to mix 50-50. I expect only one crop as my cutter cuts 3" high and I understand that Pearl likes a longer stem to retain sugars to formulate regrowth. I would like to get Bahia introduced into the field and after a couple of years use that exclusively and quit buying 50# bags of seed at today's $120 a bag.

My drill is set at 7" spacing and I am going to guesstimate about 30#/A of the combo. Both seem to accept a 1/2 depth and I bought a roller to pack the soil behind the drill which I attached to the drill to make it a one pass operation.

I pre fertilized the field per the response from TAMU on the soil sample, then disc's it in and harrowed smooth. Followed that with Geophospate and 2-4-D hoping to get rid of most of my weeds so that as I transition into more of a perennial pasture the weeds won't be such a problem.

It has been cool here and I have been waiting for the soil temp to warm up to the suggested germination temp of 65F min. I think this coming week will be it.

What did I miss, and what do you do differently that allows you refer to "a good stand of Millet"? This is my first time for planting any kind of Millet and looking to it for hay. I know about Bahia yet this is the first time to introduce it too.

Thanks for your time.

Mark


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## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Don Pine said:


> We had quite a discussion on PM earlier this spring: http://www.haytalk.com/forums/f2/pearl-millet-hay-5220/ Lot of info in that thread.
> 
> My cattle -love- it. Sold some hay to the neighbor and he came to the same conclusion.
> 
> ...


Ha! I just pulled up that "Pearl Millet" thread you referenced and see that I did a lot of blabbing. I joined the thread when I was trying to decide what I was going to plant this year for at least one cutting of hay and some residual pasture to cover the dry part of the year.

As is included in this thread, I have stated my intentions and on the stem thing, with what info I have digested via what info I could find and decided a course of action. I just decided that I didn't want to fool with stems that long during the bailing process so I said that one cutting will have to do and the Bahia is in there for some follow on pasture grass.

I had a 1209 moco but sold it off with all my stuff when I retired. It would not have a problem cutting 8" if that is what you want and has the conditioner so it seems like the perfect implement for Pearl.

I do have a tedder and it really helps drying. I just bought a drum mower which I have used on spring grasses and like the way it works, but it is not a moco and doesn't do well over 3". So that's that. I doubt that I will let it get very tall and watch the stems. Since shredders (Brush Hoggers) don't do well on tall grasses, I could drum mow it to get it down and then come back over with the hog and chop it up. I might get off in one corner and do that and see how it works. It would be a fast pass over so as to limit the amount of shredding so that I had some length to get into my roller and not have too much waste.

That's all I know for now. Will pass on what I learn.

HTH somebody,

Mark


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## Don Pine (Feb 2, 2012)

Texasmark said:


> What did I miss, and what do you do differently that allows you refer to "a good stand of Millet"? This is my first time for planting any kind of Millet and looking to it for hay. I know about Bahia yet this is the first time to introduce it too.


Mark,

Let me qualify my response by saying I know -absolutely nothing- about Bahia grass. But my concerns with your plan would be with your intended planting rate. I have no idea of seed size /weight of the Bahia, but I'm afraid at 30# combo rate that you would end with up quite a thin population for the PM. And that would cause you problems with stem diameter, i.e. dry down.

I shoot for 20 - 25 lbs. in 6 inch rows. That keeps the stems small enough that dry down isn't a problem unless it gets away from me. (And in my neck of the woods that happens as we more often cut hay when the weather allows than to when the hay's ready.) And at this population the weeds don't stand a chance. I wonder if the Bahia would?


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## Don Pine (Feb 2, 2012)

Texasmark said:


> I do have a tedder and it really helps drying. I just bought a drum mower which I have used on spring grasses and like the way it works, but it is not a moco and doesn't do well over 3". So that's that. I doubt that I will let it get very tall and watch the stems. Since shredders (Brush Hoggers) don't do well on tall grasses, I could drum mow it to get it down and then come back over with the hog and chop it up. I might get off in one corner and do that and see how it works. It would be a fast pass over so as to limit the amount of shredding so that I had some length to get into my roller and not have too much waste.


Let us know how this works out. I think you'll be OK if you get it cut that short (without the bush hog). I recently read an article about how the Europeans think us Yanks are a bit goofy about our insistence on using mower conditioners. They seem to think moco's are way over-rated in benefit to dry down (as opposed to drum / disc mowers).


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## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

After talking to my local Co-Op agent I have decided to plant brown top millet in my field. They recommend 20 punds per acre and said I can broadcast it with fertilizer and then just drag it in. They also stated that if I wanted to put any beans in it I should try and find black beans however they said they could not get that seed and didn't know where to find it. You guys know anything about black beans and where to get some seed?

--Kyle


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## cwright (Oct 19, 2011)

tnwalkingred;36183 You guys know anything about black beans and where to get some seed?
--Kyle[/QUOTE said:


> They are really good with rice and Polish sausage. Sorry I couldnt resist.
> 
> Wonder why black beans? Maybe bloating problem with other varieties?
> I did a search and saw black beans priced in bulk for Nine dollars a pound. You can get pintos at the super market a lot cheaper.


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## tnwalkingred (Jun 8, 2010)

LOL. Yeah black beans and rice are really yummy. I'm not sure why they recommend black beans but will ask around to find out. They had stated that if I found any they would be expenssive. At that price I might as well plant gold nuggets!

--Kyle


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Here you are Kyle: Schmidt Farms of Auburn: Zorro Black Bean Seed

When I was in Guatamala earlier in the year, they grow them everywhere including among the trees in the coffee plantations.


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## cwright (Oct 19, 2011)

Mike found the right site to answer all the qustions. Very interesting. I guess the bulk price I saw was for gardens.

CW


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## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Don Pine said:


> Mark,
> 
> Let me qualify my response by saying I know -absolutely nothing- about Bahia grass. But my concerns with your plan would be with your intended planting rate. I have no idea of seed size /weight of the Bahia, but I'm afraid at 30# combo rate that you would end with up quite a thin population for the PM. And that would cause you problems with stem diameter, i.e. dry down.
> 
> I shoot for 20 - 25 lbs. in 6 inch rows. That keeps the stems small enough that dry down isn't a problem unless it gets away from me. (And in my neck of the woods that happens as we more often cut hay when the weather allows than to when the hay's ready.) And at this population the weeds don't stand a chance. I wonder if the Bahia would?


Got it planted Thu and Fri. The two seeds are the same size and shape with the Bahia being slightly less dense. I mixed them together in a bucket then dumped the bucket into the hopper. I put in 100# of M to 50# of B as I just want to introduce the B and want a good hay crop. I put this on about 6 acres with a 7" drill. So that is right where you seem to like with the variation of my seed type. In checking the hopper during the drilling, the seeds stayed mixed and I seem to have a pretty even distribution of the mix. Attaching my roller to the drill worked really well and was a wise decision.

There is plenty of sub soil moisture and rain in the forcast a couple of times in the next week. Ground temp was running around 70 in the am. I layered the fert in the soil a couple of weeks ago and sprayed the weeds before that so I should be good to go.

We'll see what happens.

Thanks for the inputs.

Mark


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## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Don Pine said:


> Let us know how this works out. I think you'll be OK if you get it cut that short (without the bush hog). I recently read an article about how the Europeans think us Yanks are a bit goofy about our insistence on using mower conditioners. They seem to think moco's are way over-rated in benefit to dry down (as opposed to drum / disc mowers).


It is pretty obvious when you look at it. The stem being optimistic, has a hole in the bottom where you cut it and an exit wick from every leaf. If you condition it, you crush the stem and it has exit points all up and down the entire stem. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that added benefit. I just don't have the room for one nor feel like spending the bucks for this little operation I currently run. On what the europeans think of us, I think some are still sore about Columbus!

Mark


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