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Sorghum

dbltree

dbltree

Super Moderator
Farmland QDM posted some great info about thier sorghum plots:

Sorghum

I tried it many years ago and the deer never touched it until after season, but Farmland is having great luck with it.
I'm going to give some a try again since it is great cover as well.

Have any of you tried it and most important...have you noticed deer actually feeding on it??
 
I could watch a 4 acre patch on a neighboring property last year it was neglected untill January then pounded hard.
 
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I could watch a 4 acre patch on a neighboring property last year it was neglected untill January then pounded hard.

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That's what I always found...but January wasn't what I had in mind
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Right now you have to have something very effective to draw them away from corn fields. If sorghum would do the trick, I'd plant it in a heartbeat.

I think deer do learn to adapt to different food sources especially when it's available next to good safe cover.

I have a lot more deer then 10 years ago so they just might go for it now
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I had great luck with sorghum in central IL the past few years. Not only is it great cold weather food, it's also excellent cover. I had a P&Y that called an acre patch home, less tham 150 yards from the back door of the house.

Don't spare the N....

I think it is an under rated whitetail food sourch and look forward to trying it in SE Iowa this spring.

Jody
 
I used to plant it as a pheasant plot on a farm I no longer own and it was a magnet for that purpose.

I did plant it on the farm I live on now (for pheasants originally) for several years and there just isn't much of a pheasant population in my area so it ended up as a deer plot.

It seemed to depend on the variety that was planted in terms of when they would hit it (and I wasn't very good about recording it since it was usually free seed) but some years they started hitting it in October and others they ignored it until later as noted above....I quit planting it when I switched to RR corn & beans which the deer seem to prefer as good or better.
 
Anybody mow the stuff??

I asked my father about it and he said when he was a kid they used to cut it and they would get a couple cuttings a year. I was wondering if it would be better to plant it in the spring and mow it once in the summer and let the re-growth stand for the fall and winter.

I have permission for a new plot on the neighbors field, about an 1.5 acres and on one side it can be seen from a driveway with a couple of people that live down it. The drive way is 75yards or so from the edge of where my plot is. I dont want to them to be able to see my plot or more importantly whats feeding on it. So I thought about RR Corn and putting turnips in after I spray the corn. The corn just wont fly here, the deer will have the whole works eaten before bow season. However, it would still work for the visablity issue. Im just looking for something to plant along one side so they cant see if from the driveway and offer a little protection so the feel a little more comfortable comeing out before dark.

Dean
 
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Anybody mow the stuff??


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Sorghum - sudan grass is often baled or chopped for cattle feed. It's a "forage" type while the type planted for deer and pheasant food/cover is generally grain sorghum with some tall sorghum mixed in.

Deer feed on the seed heads so mowing would defeat the purpose.
 
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Deer feed on the seed heads so mowing would defeat the purpose.

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My idea/thought is that Im scared to plant anything in northern Minnesota after early June becuase you get alot less rain. I want a good crop so I would plant it in the spring when I plant everything else. But I thought if I mowed it in mid June with the plant established that it would grow back and possibly grow thicker with the seed heads possibly getting broke up and the little amount of rain we do get washing the seeds into the ground. And like other things the more young and tender the plant is the more the animals tend to like it. If the plant matured in mid June to early July and I mowed it, if it would come back the same atleast if not thicker why shouldnt I cut it?

Sorry I know some about farming but not a whole hell of alot.
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Thanks.
Dean
 
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Deer feed on the seed heads so mowing would defeat the purpose.

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But I thought if I mowed it in mid June with the plant established that it would grow back and possibly grow thicker with the seed heads possibly getting broke up and the little amount of rain we do get washing the seeds into the ground. And like other things the more young and tender the plant is the more the animals tend to like it. If the plant matured in mid June to early July and I mowed it, if it would come back the same atleast if not thicker why shouldnt I cut it?



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Mowing grain sorghum would be like mowing corn...the plant might continue to grow but you end up with no corn.

Sorghum plants die in the fall just like corn, so deer (during fall hunting seasons) aren't going to eat the plant but rather they are after the grain.

Mowing it will virtually insure that you will have no grain...and no deer attractant come fall.

Grain Sorghum

Pics and links to grain sorghum
 
I plant sorghum every year for the pheasants. I've seen the deer and turkeys use it during the winter every year. Not a big draw during hunting season. With all the activity I'm getting in my clover fields, I'd recommend that for deer for hunting season and do the sorghum for winter emergency feed for survival food.
 
I haven't ever really noticed the deer eating it that much. I plant it more for the pheasant and turkeys. The deer do like to bed in the bigger patches of it though.
 
Can you plant it too thick? I am using it to help block vision of my plot. One for my exit and entrance to the stand and so the neighbors cant stop and gawk at any deer might be eating before dark. Looks like it really cant be too thick. Im not so worried about them eating it, the neighbor starts feeding corn/pumpkins/clover bales about the time MN blackpowder gets over; before Xmas.

Thanks for the imput.

Dean
 
Ours is planted really thick. When my dad planted it he planted corn right along with the sorghum. Doing this would work great for a situation like you have. The only thing is you need the right planter to do it. Ours is a old 4 row JD. I don't remember the model # it doesn't have plates of any kind it has a lever that you move to whatever seed type you are planting.
Good Luck!
 
We had a neighbor growing up that had a lot of milk cows. He would mix sorghum in the planter box for his silage... Talk about cover and roosters! It would get so tall and thick, it was like a solar eclipse once you were in it.

Here's a hint guys, Cave N Rock switchgrass up against sorghum, it's a big buck sleeper...

I suspect that the sense of no activity is due to the amount of cover it provides and mature bucks going nocturnal about the time sorghum is ready for consumption.

Trail cams may tell a differnt story on activity.
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Can you plant it too thick? I am using it to help block vision of my plot. One for my exit and entrance to the stand and so the neighbors cant stop and gawk at any deer might be eating before dark. Looks like it really cant be too thick.

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You can plant it too thick. Even if you are just looking for cover, the seeding rate should be kept under 10 lbs/acre if it is drilled and maybe a few pounds more if broadcast seeding ... I have only no-till drilled sorghum. The thicker stands don't get quite as tall and the stalks tend to be thinner, this causes more windthrough in the winter. If it is planted at a lighter rate it stands much better thru the winter and provides better cover and the seed heads tend to be bigger as well.

The photo below was planted at a rate of 8 lbs/acre. It is a mix of 50 lbs of safened grain sorghum and 40 lbs of Pheasants Forever "Blizzard Buster" mix which in itself is a blend of seven different variaties of grain and forage sorghum. This mix seems to work the best for us. The deer eat strait grain sorghum too quick and this "mess" seems to make the deer work for it a little more and it provides better cover.

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Our deer really go after this blend but not until about the first of October. The activity in these plots usually last thru the end of hunting season. We can't grow corn and have anything still left by November, sorghum has become an excellent alternative for us.

As for mowing it, I have no experience with mowing it but our neighbor has talked about cutting forage sorghum for silage and it growing back. So far we haven't had a reason to try mowing it.
 
"safened" grain sorghum is treated so it can tolerate atrazine. I don't know much about the process. I get the seed thru PF.
 
One of my landowners plants quite a bit of that stuff. He bails it twice a year if he can. I just wish he'd leave it. It would make for some great cover. As of now it's prly only 2 feet tall and the deer haven't been using it much. It's next to corn but he chops that so they really have no reason to be up there. It would be sweet if he quit chopping and only bailed that sedan grass once.
 
Alright...
So Im thinking really seriously about planting sorgrum in a 10foot wide strip around 2 sides of my food plot. Im not looking for feed Im looking for the visabilty issue as stated earlier this post, if they feed on its just a plus then. I want it thick enough to not be able to see through it or just barely. Is 10feet going to be wide enough for a person not to be able to see through it.

Unfortunatly I dont think any farmers in my area plant it and the feed store cant get a pound or two at a time.
Anybody know an online store where I could get a pound or two?

Dean
 
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