Preventive Plant Acres
As of July 8, 2022, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows a significant reduction in the areas experiencing drought compared to just a few months ago. Some areas have been abnormally dry for several years and it’s nice to see moisture. But excess moisture has also caused planting delays, changes to crops planted, and some acres may not get planted at all. In this article I want to go over some options you still have available for prevented planting on your farm or ranch.
It's a good idea to have in mind what you are planning for next year when you consider the options available for prevent plant crops and cover crops.
If you have cattle (or have friends and neighbors with cattle) there are warm season grasses that can still produce at least one hay crop. We have a variety of millets available for different situations along with sorghum sudangrass hybrid, Piper sudangrass, and cover crop mixes.
· German and Siberian Millet are both foxtail millets that can be cut for hay in as little as 60 days and 53 days respectively. Both are used for single cutting hay and won’t provide much re-growth. Both can yield around 2-3 tons/acre.
· Japanese Millet is good for wet areas with heavy, wet soils, and saline soil. It is good at suppressing weeds and has good potential to regrow for a second hay cutting or grazing option depending on the first freeze.
· Pearl Millet has a high leaf to stem ratio and grows best in light sandy soils. It can also re-grow for a second cutting or for grazing depending on when the first freeze will be.
· Super Sugar is a warm-season, fast growing, juicy sweet variety of sorghum sudangrass hybrid with a first cutting available at 40-60 days and possibly a second cutting 25-30 days later. It’s also an excellent option for grazing or to hay and then graze. Yield is 5-7 tons/acre. We also have BMR variety of sorghum sudangrass hybrid available.
· Piper sudangrass is a warm season grass with rapid growth potential for hay or forage with finer leaves and stems than sorghum sudangrass hybrids and is easier to dry for hay than sorghum sudangrass.
· The Prevent Plant Grazing Cover Crop is a mix we designed with late planting and late season grazing in mind. There are many cool season species to ensure you have adequate forage late in the growing season. The Japanese Millet is good at suppressing weeds, cattle love the sweetness of the sorghum sudangrass, and the Piper sudangrass provides good relative feed value. We include kale, collards, radish and turnip to soak up moisture and will be mighty tasty. Kale and collards will stay green late into the season.
We also have a Prevent Plant Mix if you don’t have cattle and just need to soak up some extra moisture, provide late season cover, and add some Nitrogen back to your soil. We include barley to help with salinity issues that can occur with excessive moisture.
If you can’t get into your acres in time to plant a warm season crop, it’s a good time to start planning for fall cover crops like Willow Creek Winter Wheat, Hazlet Winter Rye, or TriCal Flex 719 Winter Triticale. In North Dakota, we suggest planting Winter Cover Crops by September 15.
Give me a call and I would happy to go over any of the options above or customize something for your specific goals.
