Source: Monroe Rasnake

If this summer’s weather is anything close to what we had last year you might have some pasture shortages if you have cool-season grasses, since these forages stop growing during hot, dry weather.

To provide supplemental forages, let livestock graze hay fields with red clover or alfalfa that continues to grow during the summer. However even this practice might not provide all the forage livestock need in the summer.

Seeding summer annual grasses can help you overcome the summertime gap in pasture production. You can seed these grasses from May through June.

Your best choices of summer annual grasses usually are sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, sometimes called sudex, dwarf pearl millet, or sudangrass.

The sorghum-sudangrass hybrids usually are easier to grow and produce a higher yield than millet. However, these hybrids can cause prussic acid poisoning when livestock graze if plants are too small or following plant injury from frost or a hail storm. So don’t let livestock start grazing until plants are at least 18 inches tall and don’t let animals graze weather-damaged plants.

Dwarf pearl millet is good summer forage because it has abundant leaves that produce high-quality forage. You can let animals graze this millet more than once if at least six inches of stubble is left after grazing or mowing.

Use foxtail millet if you need only one harvest for grazing or mowing for hay because this millet won’t regrow and produce a second harvest.

Although sudangrass is similar to the sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, it normally yields slightly less than the hybrids. Sudangrass does have smaller stems so it more easily dries to make hay.

For more information, contact the Clinton County Cooperative Extension Service.

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