how do i know my forage sorghum is well established for graz

[rustyb]

ye well anyways i have half a paddock of forage sorghum planted, along with some mixed in legumes ect. the crop is nearing one month in age. it is about nearing a foot, 12 inches, in height, we have had a recent downpour of rain, and hot days are predicted this week so the crop is very likely to rapidly take off. There is however a heap of weeds through the crop, but the crop is still doing very well. I have noticed that the cattle will only graze and eat the non toxic weeds at a young age before they grow thick stems. the weeds are around the same height and are young as the crop, perhaps a bit smaller. The main question is , how do i know that the sorghum is at the right age to be grazed early before the weeds get worse, but established enough so the cattle dont rip it out and permantly damage the crop.

is there some test i could do, besides letting them in and finding out...

thanks, id like to get a second crop out of the sorghum, if thats important.

 

[terra8186]

I am not an expert on this stuff. I have grown forage sorgum for Pheasants Forever. The way I understand it is Sorghum is an annual. If your cattle graze it before it goes to seed, then it won't reseed itself. I also might add that I am in Michigan, so once it is cut or grazed it would never have time to grow a seed head. I planted in early May and it just headed out before the 1st frost.

 

[rustyb]

but im pretty sure it still regrows , doesnt it , even if u cut it before the head forms ?

 

[hurleyjd]

Do not forget the prussic acid poision problem when grazing, sorghum, sudan, haygrazer or johnson grass. I would think at this time of the year this could well be a problem.

 

[1982vett]

Rustyb, where are you at to have sorghum growing this time of year?

 

[rustyb]

im in Queensland Australia

 

[1982vett]

Figured you had to be way farther south or on the bottom half. Their are so many varieties of sorghum and growing conditions that a wrong answer could get you in real trouble. Most recommendations here are to wait till it is 1 1/2 - 2 feet tall before grazing. As already posted, prussic acid poisoning and nitrate poisoning are the real things to watch for. Here is a link from Texas A&M that has information on them. http://foragesoftexas.tamu.edu/species/ ... rghum.html I though they had a section on grazing that covered sorghum but I fail to find it right now. Might have been one of the other Agriculture schools. Try doing a google search on the variety you planted and see what you come up with. In this area we would generally cut the forage type sorghums for hay first and then graze if we wanted hay from it. But with your weed problem, I'm not sure what to recommend but I suspect if it was 12 inches tall and got a good rain that it just might outgrow any weeds (again that might depend on variety planted).

 

[Jogeephus]

Maybe this will help.

http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/fie ... GC0707.pdf