Sudan Grass Knowledge Anyone

Any of you have any experience with Sudan Grass? I believe it is a perennial can be drilled right into existing pasture land.

Never tried growing it but hunted a couple patches of it in Kansas for pheasant. Great cover for them as well as deer.

Not a perennial here, one season and done.

Go a fair amount around here for feed. It's an annual

Sudan grass is an Annual, warm season grass. Frost will kill it in the fall and it can be Toxic too cattle right after a hard frost and possibly when drought stressed?
In my area with good tillage, water & fertilization it can grow 6' to 7' tall if you let it head out.
Over here it is either Baled or Chopped for Silage.

Some varieties are toxic cattle, sheep and horses.

Univ. of Colorado Toxic Plants

You can't believe everything what you read on the web. I did some research and of course it said it is a perennial and can be grown in north Montana ad does well.

I hope to get into to see a professional if I can get the best fit for me and my objective in planting the right crop.

Thanks

Snowy I would talk to your state agriculture exertion agent you can get good advice from them and very specific to your area, temperatures and rain fall.

There may be varieites for warmer climates that are different or perennial\, but in our area we raise none of those types. All are annual, warm season grass related to corn. They are toxic to cattle after freezing or if they grow in really dry conditions and are stunted. They concentrate Nitrates and other chemicals. Most around here plant and cut say twice before frost danger. If it freezes if you wait a few days after freezing and then ensile (silage) after fermentation it can be safe to feed, but it is a risk. I would think there are several other grasses more suited for your climate and what you will feed it too.

Bryce

Cattle feed here

It's a warm season annual that likes heat. Here are some links for you. https://animalrangeextension.montana.edu/forage/warm_season_forages_sorghum_sudan.html, https://www.agproud.com/articles/57...ing-sudangrass-and-sorghum-sudan-hybrids, https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/forage/sorghums-sudangrass-and-sorghum-sudan-hybrids/

Somewhat drought tolerant short season annual. Let it go to seed and is good for the pheasants and quail. I've always grown the Piper variety.

They grow some here to put up for cattle feed. Some years it gets 5-6 foot.

Every variety I've tried has been an annual. Mostly cattle forage here. Not very good forage it is 90% stalk with very little leaf.

I think you may be thinking of something else. Sudangrass isn’t the best choice for drilling into existing pasture. As mentioned, its an annual but you can get several cuttings/rotations with timely rains. Much more common in the southern half of the country, it likes heat. Its excellent cattle feed when handled properly.

Snowy is it possible you are thinking about sainfoin? I have read that can be interseeded into pasture.

No, I was asking about Sudan Grass but a few days ago I did start a thread here on Sainfoin and that is something I want to try. In fact I'm waiting for the Montana State Ag Dept. that does research on Sainfoin in Montana to get back to me. A lot of it grown here in the west so I know it does well here. I just have questions before I plant.

I have a patch of sainfoin. My BIL grows 100's of acres of it south of Gt Falls. Deer really like it.

I used to use Sudan grass as a rotation crop on irrigated ground. I found if you planted the seeds at about twice what is recommended it will get starved for light and produce a lot more leaves and the stems do not get so big. It can get up to 10 o 12 feet tall on irrigated ground. It makes a lot of feed per acre.
Now I am using and African grass called Teff. It is also an annual grass but much finer than Sudan. It will make 3 good cuttings most years and is much better feed.

Thanks bowhunter good information.

Good pheasant cover.