Had a discussion with a landowner the other day about raising sorghum on his place. I don"t have the whole story on why yet. I have always done the normal beans/corn rotation with some wheat mixed in here and there. The soil is sandy, but not too light. It usually raises my best wheat. Have any ideas on seed, equipment needs for planting, cultivating and harvesting? Not sure what I would be getting myself into. Anybody have ideas on where to look for more info or suggestions on what to do? I don"t mind trying new things, just want to make sure I don"t have buy a bunch more equipment to make it work. Thanks
- Thread starter OliverGuy
- Start date
Goose
Well-known Member
I raised a lot of milo when I was farming.
Milo is a grain sorghum used mostly for cattle feed. It's row cropped like corn, although I guess it could be drilled. On dryland, it has an advantage over corn in that if a dry spell of a few weeks hits during the growing period, it will go dormant. Then when it rains again it will start up where it left off instead of suffering permanent damage.
Typical yield dryland is around 120-150 bushels per acre, up to 200 irrigated. It was popular crop here in Nebraska till corn started making more money.
Milo is a grain sorghum used mostly for cattle feed. It's row cropped like corn, although I guess it could be drilled. On dryland, it has an advantage over corn in that if a dry spell of a few weeks hits during the growing period, it will go dormant. Then when it rains again it will start up where it left off instead of suffering permanent damage.
Typical yield dryland is around 120-150 bushels per acre, up to 200 irrigated. It was popular crop here in Nebraska till corn started making more money.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I have a couple of rows of sweet sorghum in my garden for syrup. I heard that one stalk of sweet sorghum makes four times the amount of ethanol than that of a stalk of corn.
omahagreg
Well-known Member
I have a cousin near Fairbury NE who farms, plus owns a greenhouse in town. He is busy in the greenhouse from January until June sometime. He plants Milo because he can do it all, from planting to harvest, during that time frame away from the greenhouse. Last year he had never had such a good income-he was tickled pink. Greg
I believe you're right on with that statement. I think that's why he's talking about planting it. Working on a different renewable fuel source with a startup company somehow tied into the University. Hope you can harvest it with a regular combine (CaseIH rotary). I guess there's herbicides to control weeds just like other crops? Sounds interesting.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I think you could harvest it with a silage chopper and blow it into some type of leak proof wagon.
omahagreg
Well-known Member
My grand dad tried it in that same area of Nebraska, was going to use his grain head and, I believe an A Gleaner combine. But, it snowed first. He had to buy some row contraption to harvest it that year, and lost interest. I never could figure out why-he already had the worst case scenario equipment-but he was hard to figure at times. Most of the weeds I see are called Shatter Cane-grows 2 times as tall as the milo. Nobody seems too concerned about it, because everyone seems to have it. I think it is last years seed that comes up as volunteer. Greg
Iowa_tire_guy
Member
Raised it when I was farming. It can be drilled or rowed and they have herbicides that work for it. Our renter no tills everything including milo. Used to be you could use corn herbicides but the seed had to be treated. Harvesting might be your biggest challenge. In some years it might not dry down in the field like corn and it won't stand up to snow well. It is like wheat in that the dew has to dry off before you can begin the day so fall days can be short. Also you would need some sort of attachment to keep the heads from falling out of the header. If you drill it you need extensions call milo guards on the snake heads, if it is rowed, then a soybean row crop head works great. The last few years we have gotten a premium price for milo because they are exporting it to countries that are afraid of BT corn. There is no BT Milo. Also inputs are less than corn. As for it starting shatter cane that is a myth. The volunteer will go back to one of it parents but that is not shatter cane and when rotated to soybeans, the herbicides would knock it out in short order.
Jaden
Member
- Location
- Eastern Nebraska
Why is no one mentioning the itch and misery of harvesting milo?
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Put it in the search engine and have a read, 5th most used cereal.
Further, saw an item on TV about a scientist in Washington who has nearly perfected a system to extract Ethanol from sorghum, so this may be the way things will move...worth keeping a weather eye open..and bug$er me, I wrote his name down and now can't find it.
Further, saw an item on TV about a scientist in Washington who has nearly perfected a system to extract Ethanol from sorghum, so this may be the way things will move...worth keeping a weather eye open..and bug$er me, I wrote his name down and now can't find it.
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