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Posted 1 September 2005. Forage and Grazinglands. Forage Silage Can Equal Corn Silage, Offer Water Savings Texas A&M University coals.tamu.edu Amarillo, Texas (August 31, 2005) – Cattle can munch more efficiently if producers are willing to look at sorghum forages and silages, two Texas A&M University System specialists said. Stocker cattle grazing systems, confined cattle feeding and a budding dairy industry create a growing demand for quality silage – traditionally met with corn silage.
Dr. Brent Bean, agronomist with Texas Cooperative Extension and Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, and Dr. Ted McCollum, Extension beef cattle specialist, say five years of trials show forage sorghums can help meet the need for high quality silage. And they can meet that need while saving precious irrigation water. "The potential for replacing corn with forage sorghum exists with the recent development of productive, high-quality forage sorghum varieties," Bean said.
Producers can get the same tonnage of forage sorghum as corn and use at least 25 percent less water, he said. Also, the quality of certain sorghum varieties equal that of corn and the fuel costs are less to grow forage sorghum, Bean said. McCollum agreed producers can utilize forage sorghum in their cropping program. The key consideration, however, will be for producers to be paid according to the value of the crop. "The old conventional method of saying forage sorghums are worth less than corn silage is not necessarily true," McCollum said. In feed quality trials, he said, corn silage has been replaced with forage sorghum without lowering the rate of gain or the feed efficiency. Both Bean and McCollum warned there is more variability in sorghum than corn, so it is more important for producers to study variety trials to fit the production needs they have. More than 80 sorghum varieties are growing next to corn in trials at the Experiment Station's James Bush Research Farm north of Bushland. Results of these trials will be posted at the end of the season. Earlier trial results are available. Contacts: Dr. Brent Bean Dr. Ted McCollum |
