Sorghum: An Alternative for Animal Feed in Regenerative Agriculture

I live in Kansas and we have been growing sorghum for a long time. I have to correct some of the this guys statements. Sorghum doesn’t have the highest protein content. Wheat and Triticale have a higher content up to 14%. A lot of the old open pollinated corns also have a higher protein content. Second, if you are planting grain sorghum, in 30 inch rows, make sure to give that at least 4 inches of spacing. In dry environments with less that 15 inches of rain a year, space it out more. It absolutely will burn up if you space it too close. Sorghum Sudan grass is a different story. Plant that thick. Thirdly, weed control is more difficult and more expensive in sorghum than corn. It is just that way because sorghum takes longer to canopy and shade the ground. It makes good bread and can also be popped like popcorn. Livestock prefer grazing on the stalks of sorghum over corn.

In the 1990's and earlier Milo Sorghum was grown as animal feed commonly. Nobody really ate it as a food grain itself. Then someone started marketing it to urbanites as a "superfood" and priced it out of the animal feed market. Within a few years it largely disappeared, with corn and soy meal becoming the more common animal feed. Weird to see modern farmers not remembering it or thinking it's somehow a new idea to use it as animal feed. One of these days people will suddenly remember that Buckwheat is a thing, too.

Sorghum stem has been used as animal feed in India for over 1000+ years. Stem can be given as green feed as well as dry feed and can be stored for a long time. It needs only little rainfall during sowing and can be grown into nutrient rich food.

Because it has been forced to be illegal hemp is never mentioned but blows all these other grains away for ease of harvest, highest protein, and much more.

I am from Africa and yes sorghum is really great.

As a kid in Missouri there were massive fields grown exclusively for fodder. It's only recently that it fell out of favor in replaced by corn and soy meal. Few things grow as well or make as much tonnage per acre. Triticale is another fine fogger crop.

Felt happy when I saw your video! I always learn one or two things each time I watch your videos. Great information!!!

Hemp is another crop that provides great nutrition for animals and people as well

Over the years I’ve fed a fair amount of Milo (Sorghum grain) to both cattle and hogs. I worked well ground for the hogs at a discount to Corn. For the cattle, even at a price discount, it was nowhere near as efficient as either steam rolled Barley or Corn. One other small item was that the neighbors near a cattle feedyard being fed Milo complained more about the odor in the winter than one being fed either of the other two grains. I don’t know why, but it just did..

Great video thanks. Watching from Portugal.

Have we been looking for alternatives to corn? CORN has been the alternative. It's time to grow-back to the basics.

Salam, thanks for your time and support for this video it’s really been productive and successful lesson.❤❤❤❤

Thank you for this video. I've said this for years!!!!!!!!

Just wanted top say thank you for this educational information. Just purchased some Sorghum to grow myself. I raise chickens and this will be a great alternative food for me and them.

I bought sorghum seed this year. I eager to see how it does. Growing it mostly for my chickens.

I can grow sorghum, but have failed year after year to grow corn... It is my go to now, I bought seed for rox orange syrup sorghum for sweets as well as a different one for the grain. I pray they do not start tinkering with the genetics. Great video, I didn't know about the toxin, so THANK YOU FOR THE HEADS UP!! I will research it further. God bless!

We love it, great feed grain for wildlife food plots as well. I just love the way it looks, especially after it matures.

I had sorghum Sudan grass seed in pasture seed mix, but didn't know it was there until a couple seasons later, when I rototilled an area that turned into a compost pile & planted corn (that never grew) & other veggies. But had a beautiful crop of sorghum Sudan grass that was over 6' mostly. The goat's & cow's loved the small patch I grew.

Sorghum is also the base for Chinese Baijiu, the single best selling liquor in the world. The variety of flavors they produce in sorghum based liquor in China is as varied as what we make from corn in the US.

love this video, very informative