Steve Wilson
Well-known member
Many of us seem to be in millet mode now but I have a small concern that some may think all types of millet are the same. They aren't. I only have experience with two of them; Hybrid Pearl millet and German Foxtail millet. And they are quite different plants.
Hybrid pearl millet is a very leafy plant with a stem of perhaps 3/4 inch in diameter as it ages. The thicker you plant it, the smaller the stems. It develops side shoots on its lower stem, which may form early on but certainly do once the plant is grazed or mowed. This is what allows subsequent grazings/mowings. The trick with this millet is to get as many cycles as you can in the growing season. If grazing, you need to let it get up about thigh high then put as many animals on it as it takes to graze it down to about 6 inches in a week....10 days at the most. Then pull them off and let it grow back up. Repeat, repeat. Depending on what part of the country you are in, amount of rainfall and fertilizer program, you could get as many as 4 cycles. We average 3 but with better management of the critters, we could get 4. This year, I planted a 10 acre pasture, with the intent of haying it and am counting on at least two cuttings and hoping for 3. I will mow it when I see the first few of the seedheads appear.
You may ask...why less cuttings than grazings? Good question. Cause the stuff grows so danged fast once it really gets going. The calves will be in there for a few days and you won't hardly see any effect. Like they can't even keep up with the growth. Well, for a few days, they aren't keeping up. And you start thinking....maybe do, toss in another bunch of them to help out. Remember, the goal is to graze it down in a week....10 days max. Because you have to remember you only have so many growing days in a season and the clock is ticking. With mowing for hay, you take it all down in a single day. That's the difference.
Hybred pearl millet seems to me, to be about the perfect forage. Protien content runs in the 14 to 17 percent range, though TDN could be could be a little higher, if I had a choice. Seems the last data I read said it was in the 55 - 65% range. Don't quote me on the number though. At any rate, you turn in a bunch of calves that are used to getting a ration of ground feed everyday. And you go call them up as they are chowing down on the millet. All they will do is raise their heads and maybe give you a friendly bawl to let you know they see you. They aren't going to come. If the water tank is dry and you call while you are refilling it. They look up for a moment. Yea, he is filling our tank. We'll go get a drink later on. I think it was Jogeephus that said when he hauls a bale of it out to his herd he feels like somebody packing a big roll of balogna through Etheopia. Take that as a serious comment. It is, when hybrid pearl millet is concerned.
Cattle feed through a hybrid pearl millet field in the most classic formation. Shoulder to shoulder, grazing in a straight line across the field as they swing their heads from side to side, biting off the millet. They will graze for hours; you think they will lay down any minute, surely as full as they can be. Finally, at long last they flop down in the shade of the trees. Bellies tight as a tick. You think they will certainly stay there the rest of the day. Nope, in a bit they are up and right back at it.
Now, German Foxtail millet is an entirely different plant. I've only use it once, last year with the haybeans. It is a single grazing/mowing deal, especially once the seedhead forms. Cut it, and it is done for the season. There is also Japanese millet. Though I know nothing about it except that some of my duck hunting buddies have it seeded by airplane on some of their marshy ground.
Let's hope that some of the other millet folks wade in with their experiences and recommendations.
Hybrid pearl millet is a very leafy plant with a stem of perhaps 3/4 inch in diameter as it ages. The thicker you plant it, the smaller the stems. It develops side shoots on its lower stem, which may form early on but certainly do once the plant is grazed or mowed. This is what allows subsequent grazings/mowings. The trick with this millet is to get as many cycles as you can in the growing season. If grazing, you need to let it get up about thigh high then put as many animals on it as it takes to graze it down to about 6 inches in a week....10 days at the most. Then pull them off and let it grow back up. Repeat, repeat. Depending on what part of the country you are in, amount of rainfall and fertilizer program, you could get as many as 4 cycles. We average 3 but with better management of the critters, we could get 4. This year, I planted a 10 acre pasture, with the intent of haying it and am counting on at least two cuttings and hoping for 3. I will mow it when I see the first few of the seedheads appear.
You may ask...why less cuttings than grazings? Good question. Cause the stuff grows so danged fast once it really gets going. The calves will be in there for a few days and you won't hardly see any effect. Like they can't even keep up with the growth. Well, for a few days, they aren't keeping up. And you start thinking....maybe do, toss in another bunch of them to help out. Remember, the goal is to graze it down in a week....10 days max. Because you have to remember you only have so many growing days in a season and the clock is ticking. With mowing for hay, you take it all down in a single day. That's the difference.
Hybred pearl millet seems to me, to be about the perfect forage. Protien content runs in the 14 to 17 percent range, though TDN could be could be a little higher, if I had a choice. Seems the last data I read said it was in the 55 - 65% range. Don't quote me on the number though. At any rate, you turn in a bunch of calves that are used to getting a ration of ground feed everyday. And you go call them up as they are chowing down on the millet. All they will do is raise their heads and maybe give you a friendly bawl to let you know they see you. They aren't going to come. If the water tank is dry and you call while you are refilling it. They look up for a moment. Yea, he is filling our tank. We'll go get a drink later on. I think it was Jogeephus that said when he hauls a bale of it out to his herd he feels like somebody packing a big roll of balogna through Etheopia. Take that as a serious comment. It is, when hybrid pearl millet is concerned.
Cattle feed through a hybrid pearl millet field in the most classic formation. Shoulder to shoulder, grazing in a straight line across the field as they swing their heads from side to side, biting off the millet. They will graze for hours; you think they will lay down any minute, surely as full as they can be. Finally, at long last they flop down in the shade of the trees. Bellies tight as a tick. You think they will certainly stay there the rest of the day. Nope, in a bit they are up and right back at it.
Now, German Foxtail millet is an entirely different plant. I've only use it once, last year with the haybeans. It is a single grazing/mowing deal, especially once the seedhead forms. Cut it, and it is done for the season. There is also Japanese millet. Though I know nothing about it except that some of my duck hunting buddies have it seeded by airplane on some of their marshy ground.
Let's hope that some of the other millet folks wade in with their experiences and recommendations.
