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winter grazing corn vs sorghum

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elwapo

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I am looking at putting in a winter forage next year under irrigation. We have the heat units to grow good corn. I have heard that corn is more expensive to grow and must be fenced into strips. I have been poking around on the net to find a comparison with no luck.
 
are you going to graze it with out harvesting??

white milo has a more palatable stalk than red milo, but I would not think about grazing the milo with out harvesting it.
 
If you are going to graze stalks, milo is the only way to go.

Corn stalks can vary greatly from field to field. If the corn stalks you are grazing (or are attempting to graze) happen to be Bt corn, you may as well haul the cows to your nearest WalMart parking lot and turn them out. They will get as much nutritional value out of asphalt as they will grazing Bt corn stalks.

I have seen this problem only get worse over the last 10 years. If you are looking to rent corn stalks, please, find out if the corn was Bt. If it is, save your rent and fuel and buy straw.

I cover a territory from the south side of the Platte River at Grand Island, NE, to Osborne county, Kansas, and it's the same sad story wherever you go. The cattle are never satisfied grazing Bt corn stalks, but there are hardly ever any problems with the milo stalks. :wink:
 
I am looking for grazing only. I would like to extend my grazing as long as possible into the winter months. I am looking at seeding triticale in the spring, taking it as green feed (early july) and putting in sorghum in for winter grazing.
 
Where do you come up with that cows won't thrive on Bt stalks. We have just the opposite, feed quality lasts longer into winter because of the slower decay and weathering. Cows still come off fleshy and happy.

BCR
 
I would use a forage soghum for what you want to do. Millet would also work well but wont ton out as well. When useing forage sorghum you do need to worry about pussic acid after the killing frost but the threat will go down after the first week after the frost. If you have the ability, a combo of corn and forage sorghum would be a good fit as well.
 
I agree with Andy. I would definately use a Hy-bred forage sorghum. It is way cheaper to grow and holds up pretty well after frost. Just don't plant it 10 years in a row on the same ground as it uses a lot of nutrition.
 
I had some this year that was sanding still at about 3 foot tall. We didn't have any rain in July but the first of august it started to rain and that stuff jump up to as high as 10 foot.
 
BlackCattleRancher said:
Where do you come up with that cows won't thrive on Bt stalks. We have just the opposite, feed quality lasts longer into winter because of the slower decay and weathering. Cows still come off fleshy and happy.

BCR
Click to expand...

For the past 10 years I've made a decent living supplementing cattle, and, I'll guarantee you that in my country, asphalt has as much nutritional value as Bt corn stalks. ZERO feed value up here.

If grazing Bt stalks works for you, NOBODY is happier for you than me.
 
We have used the Brown mid-rib Sorgham with excellent results. Being a southern crop you can't plant too early. Last week in June to mid July works best in our country. You can graze it after 3 ft tall. Best to keep cattle out 2 weeks after frost because of prussic acid poisoning. We have tried to use it as silage also but doesn't work well because of the moisture content. I like to seed it with some millet and oats after we take off first crop hay.
 

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