jedstivers":2xi8jad4 said:
What is the difference in Hybrid Pearl Millet (and is their a non hybrid pearl millet?) and Tiff leaf Millet? The only seed I could find was Hybrid Pearl. Would tiff leaf be better and if so why and what is the seeding rate and planting season in Arkansas? Thanks
Well Hybrid millet like Brown Top or some others can grow 10 ft tall have corn stalk sized stems and I hate searching thru the Millet forest for cows. They just get too big and their palatability and CP goes in the toilet too soon for my liking. Many people are suckered into that cheap seed price and if you decide to go that way imagine searching for cows in a sugarcane field and enjoy your summer.
Planting rate = 20+ lbs per acre drilled 1/2 inch deep on a firm seed bed. Planting time = when soil temp is above 60 degrees Tiff leaf 3 loves humidity loves the heat, loves sand or clay (if clay soil have been chiseled) wet feet is ok as long as it is not for an extended period of time.. Also in wet areas I have had chinch bug move into it but usually not beyond a threshhold that would need to be controlled and usually not until mid August and by then who cares.
Basically Tiff Leaf 3 is a dwarf millet and has a much smaller stem (more of a forage type millet) that will only grow 3 1/2 feet tall (late fall) although I keep it grazed below the 18 inch mark all year. You can graze it to the dirt and in a few weeks it will have bounced back to 12 inches tall. One thing to remember tho is not to run a fertilizer preplant application over 50 units per acre due to the liklihood of a huge build up of Nitrates (over a dry spell) which is pure poison for cattle. I only ever put down 50 units of N pre-plant and sometimes thats all for the year. On Tiff leaf 3 I normally run 6 cow calf pairs per acre "limit grazed". Ya can't do that with any other forage I know of on this planet.
Another good thing we do with our Millet is we pull cows off of it in mid august --let it head out good, spray it with round up and burn strips of it... this pops the seed right out on the ground..... As dove season begins here on Labor Day weekend and we normally sell dove hunts for $55 per hunter (where they can bag their limit in 30 minutes or less).we are booked thru 2014. Put 20 hunters out there per day during the first week of dove season and make a little mad money as I am trying to pay off an Light Sport Aircraft I bought a few years ago. Hunters I don't know do scare me, so I always get my neighbor (game warden who hunts free) to oversee the festivities and I leave for the day and fly up to Atlanta/Gainesville area and go fishing on Lake Lanier for some really good Striped Bass.
