I love this stuff!! My dad began using Sudex Triple Cross in 88 instead of Corn. 782 Allis Chopper behind a D68-06 Deutz 4x4. Had a Badger BN1009 haybine, dropped it full width flat. That 782 loved that stuff! Filled a 14x45 Harder silo. Obviously in 92 we were preparing to move to a farm that was set up all hay and no silo. We never obviously did any round baling of this stuff back then but it would have been interesting. We bought a 530 Hesston round baler when we picked up the other farm in 92.
Holy cow Ben, that sorgum is impressive! Hopefully the stalks don't cause too much of a problem. Looks like good leafy material though, I'm sure it'll feed well.
Great looking crop you sure will have a lot of tonnage. Good oats and peas is the best feed you will ever have, the cows will go mad for it just wait and see. Keep up the good work Ben.
What a crop of sorghum mine lowered that tall I bet it is fun chopping that stuff down the taller the better stocks are pretty big though looks like corn stocks like you said but your knives on your Baler should chop it up pretty good also thanks for sharing have a great afternoon
With the extremely wet start to this season and our inability to get all of our silage corn in the ground we ended up putting almost 300 acres of Sorghum/Sudan in between June 9th to the 11th. Started cutting and chopping it last week, we have a pair of New Holland Speedrower 260’s equipped with Duramerger 416’s. I’ve been merging double and my JD 9600 Chopper eats it like it isn’t even there.
Good lookin' thick sorghum BMR! Did you have a sorghum balage from last year tested for nutrition value? Thought I remembered last year the sorghum stalks looked like corn to me they were so large/thick. Maybe take 1 bale from this year with the crop cutters engaged & let it set for a few days & feed it to the beef herd as a test. Just a thought! thanks for the ride along. 👍👍👍
The crop cutter work great for balage hay Ben! Depending on how long you want it I have mine so they way the knives are spaced out I have 8 inch between 2 and 10 inches between the rest that I have in if that’s makes any sense to you lol
Glad you are using the crop chopper knives. As it is when you go to TMR you won't have to rely on the mixer chopping those stems. The stems are smaller at younger age. Would have to go with Sudan grass to get much smaller.
We never let it get that tall, stalks too thick. We ran it thru a haybind and chopped it. We got two nice crops at thigh to waste high, no taller. We had to flip our windrows to get it dryer to chop. This was in the 60’s and it worked back then!!!!
I've cut sorghum like that let it dry 7 8 days and a small square bailed it fed at the beef cattle and they loved it back then I wished I had a round baler
It may sound crazy but I have seen sorghum run through the discbine a second time but it got rained on. I aso think you just et it get too tall. I prefer 40 to 50 inch height cut high and possibly cut it again in about 30 or so days. Knives on baler sounds like a good idea.
Make sure if you are going to run onives especially all of them you have enough net wrap on the bales. If not the bales may break when you move them around
Hi Ben, just had a question, we’re running a jd pull type moco. Most of our crop is about 4 foot tall but the swather keeps plugging up. I have the roller conditioners opened up all the way so maybe it would stop plugging up, but no luck. Any suggestions? Thanks
Man the first lesson in growing sorghum is you have to be patient. It takes a long time to dry. We have to let ours dry 3 weeks. Bale it and it feeds fine. And the bmr is more palatable the regular sorghum. It doesn't always me thinner stalk.
I don't know where you are getting the height of 5ft for cutting, but the optimal cutting is 40 days after sowing, or 3ft in height, whichever comes first. No wonder your Sorghum stalks are so thick.
I don’t know what you’re so worried about. I planted it a few years ago and it was the same height as yours and I didn’t crimp it that well and baled it wet with a old silage round baler and the cows ate it fine.
I'm not stupid but I cannot understand if you are pleased overall or really upset. I'm not a sorghgum farmer so when you you say g almighty It's 5 feet tall was that a miracle or a disaster?
TNT Cattle Farmer Says ! I agree , allow to dry to 55-60% moisture & bag or pack !! Makes excellent feed for beef cows !! Looking like some in my area this year on prevented plant ground: & looks good!!
I'm going to bale my Sorghum Sudan Grass today (1st time growing it) and I have a NH460 with crop cutter. I'm so disappointed in how the cutter cuts (or lack of cutting) the crop. I'm running the knives 100%, even with new or just sharpened, they don't cut like you think they should.
Farmer Says!! Might be better to chop & bag; cut at 4’ tall & get second crop on! Plants will tiller on regrowth & be finer steamed! You still need to mow & dry to 50-60% moisture to bag or pack!!
Cant believe you would even consider not using all the knives in the baler. You need the bales as dense as you can get them to get out as much oxygen as you can when wrapping.
RM 4497 because it can be baled. Not to sound smart but a bale is portable , weatherproof , and it’s own silo. Also is a measured weight for retail. Unless you have a trench or upright n adjacent silage wagon , mixer , etc to handle silage. I haven’t seen veeser chop corn so I’m assuming he doesn’t put up silage. He has a disc nine n baler n sells these bales so silage would be pretty inconvenient honestly. No reason you can’t chop it but this stuff bales up well. Same reason he doesn’t fill silo with alfalfa n wraps it instead. Make the best ya got with the best you were given n make great things happen. One man can complete this job much easier than a fleet chopping. Hope that shed some light n I’m accurate on veesercattle reasoning.
Gixzer04 appreciate the reply. My question arose from Ben's dissatisfaction with the thick stalks and recalling him last winter holding up all the stalks that were going uneaten in the feed yard. Hope it works for him.
RM 4497 a set of rotocut knives could refine things a bit but similar to sowerscattle comment. Cows know what they want n can digest n when they have plenty of feed naturally they’ll become selective n said waste occurs.
I have never heard of sorghum being used for dairy. Hence, I doubt it is high quality feed. That said, I assume it is fine for beef or young stock, especially if fed with grain or other feed.
