grazing sudan or millet

[Devin]

I need some opinions on adding some different varieties to my summer grazing plan. At two farms I have about four acres at each one where I feed hay in the winter. By spring this area is virtually destroyed. I am thinking about disking and leveling and planting sudan or millet and making it an extra productive summer grazing paddock. We have grown both sudan and millet for hay but never for grazing. The rest of the farms are your basic fescue and white clover. I figure this would give me a little more rest on my remaining paddocks as I usually don't reclaim the ground in the spring. If this is a good idea would you use the sudan or millet or something totally different and why. Any advice appreciated.

Question 2: Can you no till either of these (millet or sudan) into and existing fescue stand in the early summer with any success? I am in western KY if that matters.

 

[Jogeephus]

Question 2 came up the other day. I have never tried notilling it but thought it was worth a trying. MikeC said it wouldn't work well - so I'd listen to him.

I've got to level up one of my hay feeding areas as well and was planning on spraying roundup, harrowing and then planting millet. I like millet. Personally I am afraid of the height some of the other plants reach. Could cause some eye problems but that's just me.

 

[dyates]

If this area is really destroyed, then millet. Mine is only partially destroyed...I'm gonna try annual ryegrass in the bare spots. If you have a good stand of fescue, millet probably won't do so well. If it does do well, it will shade out some of the fescue. One other thing that you can do to extend grazing in early winter is graze some of the fescue paddocks really short and no till grazing rye through the sod. The rye also tends to pop ahead of the fescue in the spring to reduce grazing pressure until it gets a little growth on it.

 

[bandit80]

The area you feed hay can be successfully planted to sudangrass. This is something we have done on our operation in the past. Once the cows are removed in spring, you will want to work the you know what out of the soil. Ideally, you should wait until a rain comes along, and then either disk again or run a field cultivator over it to loosen up some of the clods of dirt. Plant your sudangrass when the timing is right. I am in Northeast KS, and anytime after May 1 is a good time to plant sudangrass for us.

You will not get a very good stand in the high concentration areas, (around hay feeders, waterer's, etc.) but this should give you some good summer forage, and it can be grazed several times throughout the summer.

One thing to keep in mind is to watch out for prusic acid posioning. Be sure the sudangrass is AT LEAST 24" tall before grazing. Under drought conditions, watch out for high nitrates. (Although these are normally found at the base of the plant, it is still something to watch out for.)

 

[western]

If you are looking to graze give ProMax Sudan a try. By friend's dad got 4 grazings off of his ProMax in Tenn. last year (yes, last year. even with the drought). It works great out here too. more tillering and a very fine stem (1/4-1/2 inch). Its a little earlier then most sudan grasses so you need to keep that in mind.

http://www.promaxbmr.com has more info.

 

[Devin]

Thanks for all of the advice. I'm gonna give it a try in the hay lots and probably skip the no-till in the pasture plan. Thanks again.