Sudan Grass

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Wisteria Farms

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We bought some and the cattle INHALE it. NO WASTE.
Would appreciate any of you who might have dealt with it, telling me what you think?

From what I read, the protein content is only good if harvested BEFORE it reaches 2' tall... after that the protein falls by HALF!!!
As cattlemen (women :tiphat: ), I appreciate any thoughts you can offer up.
Thanks!
 
Wisteria Farms":1puoupsv said:
We bought some and the cattle INHALE it. NO WASTE.
Would appreciate any of you who might have dealt with it, telling me what you think?

From what I read, the protein content is only good if harvested BEFORE it reaches 2' tall... after that the protein falls by HALF!!!
As cattlemen (women :tiphat: ), I appreciate any thoughts you can offer up.
Thanks!
:roll: wouldn't go that far....but your not going to gain much by growing stem. Grow a variety that grows well in your area and harvest it according to it's growth characteristics. Essentially...everything has a time when it reaches peak nutrient levels...after that all you grow is bulk....
 
We fed it to our dairy cows for many years. It is best cut before getting stalky. Chest high or less on the first cutting and then waist high after that. We would get 3-4 cuttings depending on how much rain we got that summer. The cows love it and it is good feed. The one issue was that some people had trouble with it having poison acid if it was stored outside and if there was ice on the bale. Some neighbors lost some cows when feeding it while it was snowcovered or ice covered, but we never had that problem. We would pasture the cows on sudan grass and also cut the hay. But, it got so expensive for fertilize and seed that it became too expenisve to produce.
 
Anybody else hear of this snowcovered/ice covered problem? Thats scaring the crap out of me now... we have some large squares of it stored under a lean-to but when we put a square out they consume it "licketysplit"...I seriously don't think they come up for air. Thanks for the tip...that's worth looking into as I'm limited on storage (most of what we do of our own is in net-wrapped round bales stored outside). But being towards the end of winter we've had to buy and went with the large squares since they stack so good.
 
I have not heard of the ice/snow covered problem.

Couple things that are possible watchouts with sudan grass. One being prussic acid. When sudangrass is still short, it has a high content of prussic acid that can be fatal to cattle that are grazing it. Rule of thumb is don't graze until it is over 18 inches.

Second watchout is high nitrates when it is baled for hay. Sudangrass can be high in nitrates if it is grown in drought stressed conditions. Best thing is to have the hay tested after it is baled. I have had it happen where I have to feed another type of hay with the sudan to prevent a high nitrate condition.

With all that said, I generally let it get 3' tall before I mow it, and it does make great hay. Cows love it and will definitely clean it up good. I feel like I'm carrying a bologna sandwich through Ethiopia when I am feeding it. Works great in my area for hay following wheat or grazing. Can generally get two hay cuttings when planted after wheat. One in mid August, and a second in mid to late September.
 
You do need to be careful with prussic acid and nitrate toxicity. If you are really leary of it you might try Pearl Millet which still has some nitrate issues but no prussic acid dangers.

If your worried about stems you might try a BMR-6 gene Hybrid Sorghum Sudangrass like Surpass. It is higher priced, but the BMR-6 gene lowers the lignin content of the leaves so it won't be stemy, dries down faster and has higher digestibility.
 
All GREAT information...thanks! (I had to laugh about carrying a bologna sandwich through Ethiopia)...as that's EXACTLY right. Luckily when we bought this, it was a few bales that the hay guy wanted use to try so we DO have other hay to put out with it but the bad thing is THEY WONT EAT IT! We had two bale feeders full and they sucked down the Sudan and left the other in the feeder for a couple days til they realized the HAD to eat it.

Bandit... speaking of wheat... (when does that go in? Very early spring?) We have 17 acres that we just bought and it was already contracted for beans. So I don't think we can plant anything until beans come out... SUCKS!
 
smuff76":37pg493s said:
You do need to be careful with prussic acid and nitrate toxicity. If you are really leary of it you might try Pearl Millet which still has some nitrate issues but no prussic acid dangers.

If your worried about stems you might try a BMR-6 gene Hybrid Sorghum Sudangrass like Surpass. It is higher priced, but the BMR-6 gene lowers the lignin content of the leaves so it won't be stemy, dries down faster and has higher digestibility.
After 30 days you don't have to worry about prussic acid.

Try Pioneer 877F, I use to grow others but switched to pioneer because it retains nut. , and is cut at 3-4 feet and I have cut it at 6-7 foot high and didn't lose any nut.

Those cows sure do love it, eat it like candy.

Good Luck
 
Wisteria Farms":1bpgy8r5 said:
All GREAT information...thanks! (I had to laugh about carrying a bologna sandwich through Ethiopia)...as that's EXACTLY right. Luckily when we bought this, it was a few bales that the hay guy wanted use to try so we DO have other hay to put out with it but the bad thing is THEY WONT EAT IT! We had two bale feeders full and they sucked down the Sudan and left the other in the feeder for a couple days til they realized the HAD to eat it.

Bandit... speaking of wheat... (when does that go in? Very early spring?) We have 17 acres that we just bought and it was already contracted for beans. So I don't think we can plant anything until beans come out... SUCKS!
Wheat would go in in the fall
 

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