Sorghum Stalks

[Herefordcross]

Any reccomendations on sorghum stalk other than plowing?

 

[Bullbuyer]

I am not particularyl well versed in the difference between sorghum stalks and what we call 'cane molasses" - I'm guessing they are the same thing.
That being said, once they have been run through the processer and basically shredded, I have fed these to cattle and they will eat every bite. Someone had concern about the edges of the stalk being very sharp but we had no problems with them.

 

[cowtrek]

Any reccomendations on sorghum stalk other than plowing?

Yes. I assume you're talking about grain sorghum stubble, the stalks left in the field after the grain has been combined. It can be baled and makes ok hay. It's a little better than cornstalk hay, as there is generally a lot more leaf, but like cornstalks the sorghum stalks are usually quite thick at the base and the leaves are old and digestibility and palatability is pretty low. Depending on how desperate you are for hay, though, it can be a lifesaver...

If you REALLY need hay, then bushhogging the stalks behind the combine, letting them dry down til the stalks are dry (since they are thick it can take a few days) then raking with a wheel rake and baling can make pretty decent hay. I say shredding them with a bush hog should speed up the stalk drydown and break up the stalks a lot more, improving palatability a bit, but you lose more leaf that way and most of the nutrition is in the leaf. Being that the leaves on the plant are all at least a month to six weeks old at that point (grain sorghum doesn't put on any more new leaves after it boots since the grain is coming out of the top of the stem) the leaves are pretty old by then, and of course while making grain the plant transfers most of it's stored nutrients into the grain itself, which has been harvested by the combine (or like here a lot of it around here this year it has rotted in the field). Still if you need the hay, again, poor hay is better than no hay...

Now, if you aren't just totally desperate for hay, and willing to put a little time and effort into it, you can make grain sorghum hay almost as good as haygrazer, maybe better given some of the haygrazer (sorghum sudan) I've seen... Around here grain sorghum is usually grown on beds and that complicates harvesting it for hay, since after shredding or mowing with a hay mower everything tends to drop into the furrows and is difficult to rake and bale, especially with a rollabar rake, which is why I said a wheel rake, since it can adapt to the ridges and furrows better than a rollabar rake can. You still lose a lot under the baler pickup though or have to run it low in the dirt on top of the ridges, which is very hard on the baler pickup.

To make 'cadillac' grain sorghum hay, shred the stalks off and then disk the field flat. If you can get a load of grain sorghum grain (last load in the combine grain tank?) and broadcast it with a seeder after you've disked the field flat, and maybe drag it a bit or run a roller or cultipacker if available so much the better. Just slinging it on the disked ground is ok too. Then you just wait for a rain. After an inch of rain or so you'll see that sorghum come up so thick you can't believe it. Grain sorghum doesn't die after it produces it's grain and matures, unlike corn and soybeans, and so a lot of the stalk crowns in the soil will resprout and tiller as well. Even if you don't want to go to the trouble of broadcasting extra grain, usually enough grain is lost out of the combine to make a decent stand, especially after shredding the old stalks. By shredding off the old stalks the plant almost immediately resprouts and sends out fresh new leaves and acts like it has been replanted, except it grows a lot faster since the root system is already there. Grain sorghum is amazingly hardy, at least on our heavy blackland clay, as I've middlebusted out rows of sorghum and completely buried and inverted the crown under a new bed, and had it resprout out to the side of the ridge if even a single root does not get severed by the middlebuster! I've had sorghum resprouting in January here on the Gulf Coast!!! Freeze will kill it though (most times) Anyway, however you do it, what grows back will be fresh and new plant material. Grain sorghum doesn't grow anywhere near as tall as sorghum-sudan, though, so when it gets about 2 feet tall or so, it's probably best to go on and cut it for hay. You don't get quite the tonnage as you would by letting it get taller, but the stalks start REALLY thickening up after that and it gets harder to dry, and of course thicker stalks are less palatable. Plus, by then it's getting a little late in the season and waiting just puts you at more weather risk for making hay. It's best to cut it with a haybine to crimp it and get faster drydown, but I've never had a haybine and done all right just cutting it with a regular haymower. If you disked down the rows, it's a lot easier on your haymower and rake and baler. If you REALLY want to do it on the cheap, but make better hay than just baling the old dry stalks, shred it off and let it just regrow from the crown and then cut the regrowth with the hay mower and rake and bale that. You'll get a lot more of the old stuff mixed in with it than you would if you'd disked the field down, since you'd bury most of the shredded off stalks and leaves by disking, but the hay is still better quality wise than the old stalks.

That's been my experience with it... OL JR