I tried Sudangrass this summer with hopes of making dry hay, but had a backup incase I couldn't get it dry. Mowed it on July 15th and I'm convinced that in my neck of the woods, there is no way in heck you could make that stuff dry. With the cost of seed, I can't imagine it being economical to up seed/acre to get finer stems for drying. That being said, the stuff turned out some serious tonnage on the first cutting and I grazed the second cutting. The sudangrass was amazing! Cows LOVE the stuff. Being a rookie, I learned a lot about the crop. I should've started grazing second cutting MUCH earlier than I did. It was approaching 34-36" when I turned the cattle into the first 4 acre field. By the time they had it picked pretty clean, it was already going to seed. The second field (5ac, planted same time) was in full seed production and probably averaged over 6' tall. You couldn't see the cattle grazing it for about 2 weeks. There were 20 head of fall calving cows in this rotation and they stayed on the 4 acre field for just over 2 weeks, and were on the 5 acre (mature/full seed stage) field for nearly a month. I made 104, 4X5 bales at 60% moisture (wrapped hay obviously) and fed that for ~50d following removal from the fresh grazed paddocks. The first 4 acre field could've been grazed again, but frost came about a week after they finished up the last 5 acre paddock (hence the start of hayfeeding). It is expensive to establish and fertilize, but I feel like it really helped those cows rebound from calving. All of the cows were in a BCS of 6 or better at calving, and were in BCS of 6 at the start of the breeding season. I observed every single cow in standing heat within 40-45d post calving, INCLUDING wet 2yo's. Breed up appears to have been VERY successful, but will know more next week at preg check. I wish I would've done more "measuring" and made better notes, but again, rookie mistake. I also had a handful of yearling cattle that were in with the cows on the 5 acre paddock as well. I think this stuff really has a place for those of us in the fescue belt, especially if you are trying to get cows bred on the stuff. We've always done pretty well with AI, but it looks like we are going to be over 70% this year. It's worth looking at if you are wanting some summer forage, but I'd be cautious assuming you could put the stuff up dry. I have heard of some folks getting it dry, but I sure as heck wasn't remotely close to getting it there. Good neighbor saved the day and came and baled and wrapped it for me. The only advantage I see to a WSG would be overall cost. Yes, the seeds are HIGH, but you pay that once, up front, as opposed to annually with the Sudangrass. I think the millet could be a good option too. Seed is a little cheaper, but tonnage is a little less too. I may try the millet this year and just plan on grazing it instead of trying to make hay. It'll be a steep learning curve for me trying to figure out how much I need and how to keep it from getting ahead of me in a grazing rotation. Probably have to plant it at two different times to keep it in check.
[/quote]
Thanks for this response! That really gets my blood pumping for some sudan. It sounds like it would do exactly what I would be hoping for filling the fescue slump during summer and getting a decent cutting of hay off of it. Did you go with a true Sudan grass or some type of sudex hybrid? Also if you don't mind my asking about how much an acre we're the inputs?
