Questions about baling grain sorghum

[whitewing]

I've got an offer to bale grain sorghum, something I've never done, and was wondering if you guys could provide some words of wisdom.

The crop will be harvested within a few weeks. Once harvested, the owner wants to wait a few more weeks to see what kind of rainfall we get and what kind of regrowth the crop experiences. At some point he'll likely tell me to have at it.

Is this stuff tough to bale? Is it tough on equipment? Drying times? Some of it will most likely have some green grain on the plants...any problems baing that?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

WW

 

[bigbull338]

I've got an offer to bale grain sorghum, something I've never done, and was wondering if you guys could provide some words of wisdom.

The crop will be harvested within a few weeks. Once harvested, the owner wants to wait a few more weeks to see what kind of rainfall we get and what kind of regrowth the crop experiences. At some point he'll likely tell me to have at it.

Is this stuff tough to bale? Is it tough on equipment? Drying times? Some of it will most likely have some green grain on the plants...any problems baing that?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

WW

baling that isnt that hard.but you do need what we call mow/co to crimp the stalks as its cut to aid in the drying time.yes you can bale it with a square baler.but i really cant remember how that went.but i know it has been done before.

 

[dun]

baling that isnt that hard.but you do need what we call mow/co to crimp the stalks as its cut to aid in the drying time.yes you can bale it with a square baler.but i really cant remember how that went.but i know it has been done before.

MoCo is the term used for a Mower Conditioner. The conditioner part is what does the crimping

 

[TexasBred]

From what I've seen some out this way simply run a shredder over it. Really chops up the stalk portion and cuts down on drying time. Can be hard on equip but not as bad as corn stalks. Makes good heavy bales and cattle love it.

 

[whitewing]

TB, I've got a machine I harvest pasture with.....tosses the material into a wagon being pulled behind. Is that the sort of equipment to which you're referring? I would wonder if it wouldn't shred it so small that the baler's pick up wouldn't have trouble lifting it.

 

[chippie]

We've bought it in round bales in the past. Yes the cattle love and ours did well on it. The only problem that we had with the bales is that after a while they would bust apart. They were fragile and we had to be careful moving them. I don't know if this was due to how they were baled, but I have seen others have similar problems.

A mower/conditioner is a machine which does two things. It cuts the hay then runs the cut material through a conditioner. It sort of rolls/crimps the stalks to break them open so that they will cure quicker. Many people who bale Johnson grass use one.

 

[TexasBred]

TB, I've got a machine I harvest pasture with.....tosses the material into a wagon being pulled behind. Is that the sort of equipment to which you're referring? I would wonder if it wouldn't shred it so small that the baler's pick up wouldn't have trouble lifting it.

Sounds almost like a silage chopper...if so it would be way to fine. Needs to be longer.

 

[jedstivers]

We baled a few thousand bales this year, started off using a mo-co but changed to a plain old bush hog.

 

[whitewing]

We baled a few thousand bales this year, started off using a mo-co but changed to a plain old bush hog.

Jed, I'm assuming that's worked well for you if you've already done a few thousand bales. I really like the idea for two reasons....first, I'd not have to put one of my mowers that I use on bermuda to use, and secondly, I'd think cutting with a bush hog would be pretty fast.

Last year was my first year custom baling. After I pretty much ran out of material to bale for horses, I began baling for cattle and managed to sell everything. I've now got the contacts as we enter summer and I'm betting sorghum bales will be really easy to sell. Several years ago I bought sorghum bales for my cattle and they readily consumed them even though the bales were pretty crappy looking. I'd plan on offering a quality product in this case.

Thanks guys for the responses. I knew you fellows would give me some good ideas.

 

[jedstivers]

Yeah it worked well, did have a silage bailer and that helps but it's not a have to though. After bailing we put 100lbs of urea on and got it up to boot/early head stage and baled again. AC is the one that did the bailing so maybe he'll see this thread and post. Watch for nitrates if its been real dry, we baled irrigated and dry land but the dry had started getting some rain before grain harvest.

 

[TexasBred]

Yeah it worked well, did have a silage bailer and that helps but it's not a have to though. After bailing we put 100lbs of urea on and got it up to boot/early head stage and baled again. AC is the one that did the bailing so maybe he'll see this thread and post. Watch for nitrates if its been real dry, we baled irrigated and dry land but the dry had started getting some rain before grain harvest.

With a little fertilize along with the regrowth you'd be amazed what the protein level in those bales will be. ;-)

 

[jedstivers]

Yeah it worked well, did have a silage bailer and that helps but it's not a have to though. After bailing we put 100lbs of urea on and got it up to boot/early head stage and baled again. AC is the one that did the bailing so maybe he'll see this thread and post. Watch for nitrates if its been real dry, we baled irrigated and dry land but the dry had started getting some rain before grain harvest.

With a little fertilize along with the regrowth you'd be amazed what the protein level in those bales will be. ;-)

Yeah, I'm wanting to get some samples in it. It is some really nice hay.