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<blockquote data-quote="farmerjan" data-source="post: 1401124" data-attributes="member: 25884"><p>Stocker Steve; we grow a sorghum-sudan grass when we are renovating a hay field. Last year we made it into "dry hay" but often we will wrap it. The cows like it a little better wrapped but then there is the added expense. Since conditions warranted, we just made it as a dry hay. There wasn't enough time to get a second cutting, so I bushhogged it and then we planted barley in one place and rye in the other. We do a 2 year renovation so that we use as little chemicals as possible to get rid of the weeds. Sometimes we plant wheat, instead of the barley. That will get made into a hay and wrapped if we don't have the weather to make it dry, then plant the sorghum-sudan and get normally 2 cuttings, then put it back into barley or rye or wheat. The second year we do the same, then will go back with orchard grass instead of the sorghum-sudan the following year. We might take a single cutting off it if the conditions are right, late in the fall. </p><p>We were feeding the corn silage to the "grandma cows" with fall calves, and to the calves we were holding over the winter. The grain sorghum could be used instead of the sorghum-sudan in the rotation and make us some silage instead of the hay. There is a pretty good energy value, the animals like it, and it is a whole lot cheaper to plant than corn for silage. We have to winter one group of cows there on some pretty poor ground for the winter and they just need something more than just hay. This gives them a little more energy, and we can easily add some grain in the feeder wagons to boost the protein. We had some problems with an imbalance of energy and protein and the cows were looking terrible, and it was just too low a protein for the lactating beef cows with the fall calves. When we sell some of these calves, there are a couple of people who want calves that are bunk broke; so it is in our best interests if they are eating from the bunk and know what silage is. </p><p>The whole thing is, we will be planting sorghum-sudan or something, so a grain sorghum just seems like a possibility and making it into silage, then going back with the fall cover crop. We just thought we would try something different and I am not really sold on corn silage for beef animals, and definitely not happy with the cost. Corn also takes a lot out of the ground and the inputs are really high cost. If we could find some more help, we would harvest more small sq bales of orchard grass since we have people constantly wanting it. A good clean field of it will produce for 4-8 years before we get many weeds to come up in it. It is worth 3/4 or more of what alfalfa is worth here, and it is more forgiving for making it. Our schedules do not allow for us to make alfalfa every 28-30 days like they say you should; or when it is less than 10% bloom. And first cutting is very stemmy, so by rights that ought to be chopped. So orchard grass just fits our operation, and the demand here.</p><p>Therefore, we try to keep our fields in good production.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="farmerjan, post: 1401124, member: 25884"] Stocker Steve; we grow a sorghum-sudan grass when we are renovating a hay field. Last year we made it into "dry hay" but often we will wrap it. The cows like it a little better wrapped but then there is the added expense. Since conditions warranted, we just made it as a dry hay. There wasn't enough time to get a second cutting, so I bushhogged it and then we planted barley in one place and rye in the other. We do a 2 year renovation so that we use as little chemicals as possible to get rid of the weeds. Sometimes we plant wheat, instead of the barley. That will get made into a hay and wrapped if we don't have the weather to make it dry, then plant the sorghum-sudan and get normally 2 cuttings, then put it back into barley or rye or wheat. The second year we do the same, then will go back with orchard grass instead of the sorghum-sudan the following year. We might take a single cutting off it if the conditions are right, late in the fall. We were feeding the corn silage to the "grandma cows" with fall calves, and to the calves we were holding over the winter. The grain sorghum could be used instead of the sorghum-sudan in the rotation and make us some silage instead of the hay. There is a pretty good energy value, the animals like it, and it is a whole lot cheaper to plant than corn for silage. We have to winter one group of cows there on some pretty poor ground for the winter and they just need something more than just hay. This gives them a little more energy, and we can easily add some grain in the feeder wagons to boost the protein. We had some problems with an imbalance of energy and protein and the cows were looking terrible, and it was just too low a protein for the lactating beef cows with the fall calves. When we sell some of these calves, there are a couple of people who want calves that are bunk broke; so it is in our best interests if they are eating from the bunk and know what silage is. The whole thing is, we will be planting sorghum-sudan or something, so a grain sorghum just seems like a possibility and making it into silage, then going back with the fall cover crop. We just thought we would try something different and I am not really sold on corn silage for beef animals, and definitely not happy with the cost. Corn also takes a lot out of the ground and the inputs are really high cost. If we could find some more help, we would harvest more small sq bales of orchard grass since we have people constantly wanting it. A good clean field of it will produce for 4-8 years before we get many weeds to come up in it. It is worth 3/4 or more of what alfalfa is worth here, and it is more forgiving for making it. Our schedules do not allow for us to make alfalfa every 28-30 days like they say you should; or when it is less than 10% bloom. And first cutting is very stemmy, so by rights that ought to be chopped. So orchard grass just fits our operation, and the demand here. Therefore, we try to keep our fields in good production. [/QUOTE]
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