{"id":2403,"date":"2023-12-11T15:52:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T15:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/?p=2403"},"modified":"2023-12-11T15:52:17","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T15:52:17","slug":"the-bamboo-forest-of-texas-forage-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2023\/12\/11\/the-bamboo-forest-of-texas-forage-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cBamboo Forest\u201d of Texas Forage Farming"},"content":{"rendered":"

This common summer annual forage mistake has forage quality implications.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy\/TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

December\u00a0 2023<\/p>\n

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What do you observe in this recent sorghum\/sudan field from Terry County, Texas?\u00a0 If you showed this to a local forage grower or cattle raiser, what would you say?<\/p>\n

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Fig. 1.<\/strong>\u00a0 Grazing of sorghum\/sudan where cattle were turned in to graze much too late or at too-low stocking rate.\u00a0 Forage is headed out, cattle are eating mostly just leaves, and return on expenses and farmer effort is low. (Calvin Trostle, Terry Co., TX)<\/p>\n

This was a dryland field<\/u> where rainfall had been generous and growth exceptional.\u00a0 This makes the observed status especially galling as the farmer wasted a great opportunity for a fantastic crop of any kind where drought conditions prevail much of the time.<\/p>\n

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What happened here?<\/u>\u00a0 It appears to me the grower likely turned the cattle into the field much too late.\u00a0 I would guess this forage was already 5 to 6\u2019 tall.\u00a0 If this was not the case (cattle were released on shorter plants) then the stocking rate was too low<\/u> to consume the daily growth of forage.<\/p>\n

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The result is grain in the heads, stalks the cattle don\u2019t want to eat (possibly even if it is brown mid-rid, or BMR; refer to 07July2023 TAM-AAMM), and plants that grew well enough some of the leave are above the reach of the cattle.<\/p>\n

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These factors have unfortunate implications for the farmer\u2014and the cattle.\u00a0 The farmer has lost a great opportunity to use ample forage production for economic return in beef cattle maintenance and preferably weight gain (the best value is for growing stockers rather than cows).\u00a0 Second, animals are receiving lower quality forage.\u00a0 This translates to reduced animal performance.\u00a0 I will address the changes in sorghum\/sudan forage quality with increasing growth stage with time in a future update.\u00a0 (What do you think those charts & tables look like?)<\/p>\n

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Good Management in Sorghum\/Sudan Grazing<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A general guideline for sorghum\/sudan grazing is to release cattle into the forage at ~24\u201d tall.\u00a0 Forage is well established.\u00a0 Cattle won\u2019t pull plants out of the ground when they graze.\u00a0 Forage quality is surprisingly high.\u00a0 Sufficient cattle numbers or lbs. animal weight per acre (500 lbs.\/A?) will:<\/p>\n

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