Sorghum Sudan

[Bub]

Was thinking about next year plant some sorghum Sudan an cutting it for balelage I have never done this it would be feed to cows to get threw winter an maybe some calfs that are being precondition. Wandering if it was a good ideal or crazy thinking. Is there anything I need to watch for when feeding it any info will help thanks in advance

 

[callmefence]

Don't know a thing about barrage Bub.
Haygrazer is about the best producing crop there is for summer grazing or hay.
As with any sorghum you got to use common sense management for purassic acid and nitrate levels. But well worth it. :2cents: :welcome:

 

[Bigfoot]

I've never made baleage/silage out of it. I do plant some every year. Good producer for me. We had a wet year here, and I pretty much lost mine to not being able to get it cut. A more normal year, and it will out produce anything else I can raise. I've never had prussic acid trouble, or nitrate trouble. I've also never grazed it either------Strictly a hay crop for me.

 

[Bub]

Do you have trouble drying it out when you cut it. An how do I avoid the Prussic acid an nitrate problem

 

[callmefence]

Do you have trouble drying it out when you cut it. An how do I avoid the Prussic acid an nitrate problem

You need a moco to cut it and dry it right.
Nitrate and purassic acid both come from stress.
Nitrate is related to nitrogen. So if you can control it somewhat by applying fertilizer in smaller split applications. Also nitrate levels in hay is permanent. Does not go away. Nitrates occur mostly in the lower third of the stalk. So the usual practice is to just cut it high.

Purrasic acid is different. But quite predictable.
Stress from drought, frost, cutting, or grazing. Followed by good growing conditions. It is highest in the new growth. It's quite simple you put the cows on it during the summer and leave them on it as long as it's growing. If it's gets dry or severely grazed down. Pull them when you get rain. Two weeks of growth is sufficient.
Frost is another concern. Try to have it used up before frost. If you get a hard killing frost.no worries. But if you get a light frost it's a bad deal. In that situation I usually kill it with round up.
That's what I have to say. I'm but a simple post pounder. Please do your own research.

 

[Clodhopper]

We did 12 acres this year, got 99 wet bales off it, and it was a poor stand. No stress when we baled, so not worried about acid or nitrate.

 

[RanchMan90]

We did 12 acres this year, got 99 wet bales off it, and it was a poor stand. No stress when we baled, so not worried about acid or nitrate.

Nice. That's over 8 bales an acre, in one cutting?

 

[Bub]

So as long as there is not stress at time of cutting you don't have to worry bout acid what are y'all call " cutting it high "

 

[Clodhopper]

We did 12 acres this year, got 99 wet bales off it, and it was a poor stand. No stress when we baled, so not worried about acid or nitrate.

Nice. That's over 8 bales an acre, in one cutting?

Yes, we were amazed. It was probably ten feet tall, we didn't get it cut when we wanted, it's been wet here. I can't remember when we baled it, but it's shoulder high again. We're going to graze it when we move home off summer pasture, working around the frost of course.

We had an amazing hay year. Our triticale made 130 bales on one twenty acre patch. Another 15 acre patch we had made 60, not quite as impressive. Those were all baled with a Deere 566 baler, big, heavy bales. We're set pretty good for winter.

 

[callmefence]

So as long as there is not stress at time of cutting you don't have to worry bout acid what are y'all call " cutting it high "

The first few days of new growth is when plant is highest in acid. You should let plants recover 2 weeks before grazing. If cutting hay acid is of no concern. It will disipate during the drying process.
Cutting high is for dealing with high nitrates in lower stalk. Raise your cutter ,conditioner high to leave several inches of stubble.

Acid and nitrates are both largely exaggerated. But they do occur.
Here any large animal vet will test forage for acid for a few bucks and it only takes a few minutes. The first several years I used haygrazer I bout wore the hinges off his door having samples tested. But by doing so I began to be able to tell by looking if the grass was suspect or not. And begain to be quite good at realize when conditions were favorable for possible problems.

 

[Jogeephus]

If you are doing baleage you'll want to make your bales smaller than usual because the bales will be heavy. It will produce a lot of tonnage. Never had any problems with it myself other than its heavy and hard on equipment but cattle love it.

 

[Clodhopper]

If you are doing baleage you'll want to make your bales smaller than usual because the bales will be heavy. It will produce a lot of tonnage. Never had any problems with it myself other than its heavy and hard on equipment but cattle love it.

+1. The bales are extremely heavy.

 

[delmetxhg]

Where am i looking for it? We cant see a View first unread post. Got it. Its very good. What was there before? A&M

 

[TennesseeGrassGrower]

I had a 5 acre paddock of it this year and ran 15 pairs on it for 4 weeks at a time. I let it grow between 8-10 feet and let them in on it. I moved them everyday with a temporary electric fence. I was able to run them through this paddock a total of 3 times. This stuff grows super fast.

The base of the stalks are between 1" - 2" when they are 8 - 10 feet high. It looks like this would make for some heavy bales.

 

[Bigfoot]

In my opinion, it's the best choice to settle fresh bought calves. They can't seem to help themselves, they have to eat it. It's dry enough to discourage scours, and enough energy in it to bring them over the traveling hump in the road. Start em on it, and after 3 or 4 days, add some grain to the party. You'll have a lot less sick calves on your hands. Yaws mileage may vary.