Best summer grazing annual ?

[Richnm]

What is a good summer grazing annual I can plant ? SxS , Pearl Millet? Stocking rate under irrigation ? Grazing 15 pairs. Thanks

 

[Little Joe]

I'm going to try a little sunn hemp and sunflowers this summer, sunn hemp builds nitrogen and potash. I've also considered peas, they'll build nitrogen as well.

 

[Richnm]

I'm going to try a little sunn hemp and sunflowers this summer, sunn hemp builds nitrogen and potash. I've also considered peas, they'll build nitrogen as w

Interesting. What stocking rate do you think you will achieve ? CP? Bloat?

 

[Little Joe]

Sunn Hemp offers 20-25% crude protein and is 90% digestible. It increased cattle gain per acre by 17%, according to Naumann's research. Sunn hemp also produces and fixes significant amounts of nitrogen. According to USDA, it can produce more than 5,000 pounds of biomass and up to 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre.Jun 17, 2020

 

[Little Joe]

Not sure on stocking rate of the sunn hemp but it gets over 6' tall and grows fast. I don't have enough cattle to worry about stocking rate, mostly trying to build soil and experiment a little. I might follow up with cereal rye, clover and austrian winter peas for winter. Look it up on petcher seeds, they also have the sunflowers and red ripper peas. Sunflower is suppose to help brake up the hard pan. With fertilize prices, gonna have to be creative.

 

[Little Joe]

Red Ripper Cowpeas offer more than 20 percent protein. It's also a delicious pea for human consumption! To go along with that great protein, these cowpeas can be both heavily grazed or mowed low, and they'll come back growing strong. Other peas and even forage soybeans cannot claim this.

This plant is an excellent Nitrogen builder for your soil. The Red Ripper will definitely handle drought better, as it goes dormant during dry times and re-vines and re-blooms again after each rain.

 

[Little Joe]

Unlike some other popular legumes, sunn hemp does not cause bloat in cattle. It tolerates dry conditions and low-fertility soils. Sunn hemp also has another advantage that make it a wise choice in a well-managed forage system.
"Sunn hemp can be drilled directly into tall fescue pastures without damaging existing stands," says Tate, who serves on the NRCS+MU Grasslands Project.

Broadcast or drill seeds at a rate of 30-40 pounds per acre. Naumann says 30 pounds is "as good as 40 pounds." Additional seeding causes detrimental crowding. He recommends inoculating seeds with cowpea-type rhizobia bacteria for good nitrogen fixation. It competes well when interseeded with fescue and suppresses weeds.

Sunn hemp's strong regrowth ability is one of its best features. Grazing or clipping pushes hidden axillary buds to grow and branch out for more biomass. Graze plants when they reach heights of 1 ½ to 3 feet.
Allow a 21-day rest period between grazing periods for best results, says Naumann. This depends upon the location and climate. Avoid letting plants overmature, he says. The stalks are less palatable than the leaves, which contain higher nutritive value. Cattle will graze down to a 12-inch stubble in rotational grazing systems.

 

[Richnm]

That's to much protein especially for non lactating cows.

 

[Banjo]

Red River crabgrass

 

[callmefence]

Been my experience that ss will outperform pearl Millet. No experience under irrigation but I would think it would be even more so.

 

[Ebenezer]

Unfortunately, this year will be different due to fertilizer prices and if you are willing to do multiple N applications to get the most of a summer annual. I somewhat disagree with the statement that sunn hemp will do good on multiple grazings. You'd better be the best of managers to pull that one off.

 

[Little Joe]

That's to much protein especially for non lactating cows.

Mine will not be a pure stand, I'll drill it into my other grasses at a lighter rate than recommended and also be diluted with the sunflowers. It'll be drilled in a pasture with crabgrass, bermuda, fescue and byhalia. Petcher seed sells it in amix with red river crabgrass as well. It's not supposed to be planted in a pure stand.

 

[BFE]

There's a man in Ohio who plants sunn hemp and tillage radish side by side in 15" rows. SH produces N and radish scavenges it. Notills corn on the radish row the following year for good yields on low fertilizer. Heck of a soil building program.

 

[Stocker Steve]

What is a good summer grazing annual I can plant ?

Timing is a huge deal. When you need forage, and what is its grazing utilization at that point?

Should be able to grow at least two crops of grazing annuals in most cases. So now you are looking a forage chain that will take you thru the grazing season. Like cool season grass followed by grazing corn followed by a fall mix.

Corn outyields most. It is higher input, but you have to run the numbers on $/# utilized, which makes it lower cost than most.

 

[BFE]

Timing is a huge deal. When you need forage, and what is its grazing utilization at that point?

Should be able to grow at least two crops of grazing annuals in most cases. So now you are looking a forage chain that will take you thru the grazing season. Like cool season grass followed by grazing corn followed by a fall mix.

Corn outyields most. It is higher input, but you have to run the numbers on $/# utilized, which makes it lower cost than most.

I've played around with the idea of corn for winter stockpile (already grazing stalks). How would a program of corn/ graze green then replant corn and let go for stockpile work? You'd have to have something in between, but that would be a lot of quality forage on limited acres. If one was strip grazing the cows would do most of the fertilizing, just need some N.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Some dairies plant grazing corn weekly during the spring and the first half of the summer. Great feed for a stein, too expensive for profitable beef cows. So, you need to use annuals where they replace more expensive stored feed for cows, or to pop grass yearlings right before you sell them in late summer, or to allow perennials to stockpile (thus replacing hay later).

The grazing utilization math gets semi interesting for late summer annuals. It is reasonable to more than double your utilization grazing green vs. grazing brown. Some soil building gurus like to brag about how little they take when grazing brown - - but their cows are not able nor willing to utilize more of the leafless lodged lignin.

 

[Stocker Steve]

How would a program of corn/ graze green then replant corn and let go for stockpile work? You'd have to have something in between, but that would be a lot of quality forage on limited acres.

Depends on your weather. A dry fall or an early frost can hurt you badly. Green corn, and then an oats mix, usually works here on fertile bale grazed acres.

To make serious income off grazing annuals you need to deal with the land charge (double crop), fertilizer cost (manure), and have a high value of gain (yearlings or grass fed).

 

[BFE]

If I were to do the corn for cow stockpile, I would use bin run at a really high population to get mostly fodder and keep the stalks fine. Hopefully have an ear about the size of my thumb to get just a touch of grain.

 

[callmefence]

No experience using corn but I have played with the idea of using bin run corn at 3 bushel per acre. Even at 4.00 I can't seem to get it to beat ss on paper at twice the seed cost. Mostly because of the regrowth of ss. I'm sure I'm missing something.

 

[Richnm]

No experience using corn but I have played with the idea of using bin run corn at 3 bushel per acre. Even at 4.00 I can't seem to get it to beat ss on paper at twice the seed cost. Mostly because of the regrowth of ss. I'm sure I'm missing something.

I stopped planting oat hay in March , I just wait til April 15th plant haygrazer and get 3 cuts and less dirt work.