Extend Your Forage Resources with Summer Annuals

 

Even though you are deeply involved in harvesting hay right now, you should consider extending your resource by adding summer annuals. Cool-season grasses are great during the spring and fall, but these forages tend to “lose their punch”  during the hot, dry summer months. Planting summer annuals can help negate the effects of a summer slump and ensure steady forage production the entire season.

Summer annuals such as pearl millet, crabgrass, and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids have high-yielding, high-quality potential. These grasses can supplement forage systems and be used for grazing both cows and calves and in some cases small ruminants.

Moving livestock to summer annuals can help provide nutritious, palatable forages and keep the animals on a positive plane of nutrition. Thus, adding extra weight on calves, and it can help the cows rebreed faster and milk better or the build body condition gains on all livestock.

Summer annuals can also be cut to replace hay inventories if hay is fed to compensate for poor forage production when environmental conditions are less than favorable.

Planting is fairly easy. Warmer-season summer annuals can be conventionally or no-till planted at 0.5 to 1.5 inches deep. Everything depending on variety should be planted from April 15 to early July.

Planting rates will very based on type and usually run 10-20 lbs. per acre. Many recommend to plant sorghum-sudangrass at 30 pounds per acre if drilled, or 45 pounds per acre if broadcasted. Do not be afraid of incorporating Crabgrass into the forage equation, it should be planted at 4 to 6 pounds of live seed per acre. Always use a soil test to indicate fertilization requirements for potash, phosphate and lime. As for nitrogen, applying 30 to 60 pounds per acre at establishment is needed.

Remember you have a choice to either graze or cut these grasses, however you need to harvest summer annuals before they get too mature. Quality of the crop declines quickly with maturity.

For many types plan to graze at about 15 inches tall and graze down no lower than approximately 6 inches.  Crabgrass needs to be grazed at 12 inches.

A Important thing to understand and remember is that nitrate poisoning can occur in pearl millet, crabgrass, and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids. Toxic levels of nitrate are especially likely during periods of water stress, so avoid cutting hay during these times.

Another toxicity specific to sorghum-sudangrass is prussic acid poisoning. This occurs after a frost, so delay grazing for a week or two after a freeze. However, there is no risk of prussic acid in hay or silage because it degrades during drying.

If you have additional question please contact your local Extension office or contact me at cchilds@vt.edu .