suggestions for summer annual

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Texas Gal

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we're in the process of clearing 35+/- acres since early spring. the rain has really slowed down progress on this project. i'm leaning towards a warm season annual this year for erosion control and some grazing. any suggestions regarding what to plant here in North Central Texas? i have zero experience with warm season annuals.
 
Its getting late in the year for summer annuals but I guess you could do some hay grazer. If you are not afraid to manage it, Johnson grass or sorghum almum would be my choice. Seed is cheap.

Call the folks over at Turner seed in Breckenridge. They will help you out.
 
I'm a long ways away, hot dry climate here.. I used annual ryegrass with some crimson clover and just a little barley, all broadcast seeded,.. Sowed it in late July and it made for wonderful, nutritious fall grazing


First frost before putting the cows in
 
Texas Gal said:
we're in the process of clearing 35+/- acres since early spring. the rain has really slowed down progress on this project. i'm leaning towards a warm season annual this year for erosion control and some grazing. any suggestions regarding what to plant here in North Central Texas? i have zero experience with warm season annuals.

Warm season annual sounds like sorghum-sudan, haygrazer, popular, available at most feed stores, priced at about $25/50# bag, bag per acre for a good stand, makes great stands for grazing and baling...good volume, couple of problems to watch out for but handleable. "Gotcha Plus" out of Denton feed mills is a super product....my bulk fertilizer dealer in Whiteright sells it as a sideline along with his fertilizer main business. Really late in the season now to plant any summer crop.....Haygrazer should have been in by mid April but the weather forecasters have predicted a wet summer so you still have a chance to make something.
 
bird dog said:
Its getting late in the year for summer annuals but I guess you could do some hay grazer. If you are not afraid to manage it, Johnson grass or sorghum almum would be my choice. Seed is cheap.

Call the folks over at Turner seed in Breckenridge. They will help you out.

This...or whole uncleaned Milo. 14.00 cwt.
It's to late imo to go haygrazer. If it stays wet it would be fine. But the high seed cost makes the bet to high.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Texasmark said:
Really late in the season now to plant any summer crop.....
When we started this project on December 17th, the plan was to have cleanup/clearing done and seed planted by mid-April. Mother Nature had other plans. Now I'm trying to figure out something for erosion control on the areas that are being cleared. Hopefully, next spring we can actually get the grass planted.

On a positive note, finally got the ryegrass baled on Monday and fertilizer down yesterday. Grass is growing like crazy, cows and calves are fat and happy.


 
Sorguhm-sudan. cow peas, mung beans, pearl millet, sunflowers, okra the list is long of what you could plant. I wouldn't worry too much about being on time or not just cover the ground up with something live.

I don't live in Texas but for here 50lbs of seed to the acre for sorghum-sudan would be considered way over planted. 25 to 30 lbs per acre would be normal rate for here, some will plant 10 to 15 lbs per acre. Some of the new hybrids are recommended for somewhere around 8 lbs per acre if I remember correctly.
 
Allenw said:
Sorguhm-sudan. cow peas, mung beans, pearl millet, sunflowers, okra the list is long of what you could plant. I wouldn't worry too much about being on time or not just cover the ground up with something live.

I don't live in Texas but for here 50lbs of seed to the acre for sorghum-sudan would be considered way over planted. 25 to 30 lbs per acre would be normal rate for here, some will plant 10 to 15 lbs per acre. Some of the new hybrids are recommended for somewhere around 8 lbs per acre if I remember correctly.

50# per acre (drilled on a 7" spacing) puts the plants very close together which results in small stems and lots of leaves as the plants are competing for the sun and it's effects. Like the benefit of fertilizer vs none, results are pushing 10x the investment. My cows had a hard time making something out of stems especially when plant had matured to full, ripe, seed pods like some commercial growers offer for sale for whatever reason.

The other thing is planting a late maturing, brown rib, leafy variety like Gotcha Plus. If it wasn't a pain, I'd post pictures of a field I snapped in 2014 where the stems were about ⅜", height was over 8' (over the cab of my tractor), 2" wide leaves and zero even reached the "Boot" stage.
 

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