CALF_News_October_November_2021

25 CALF News • October | November 2021 • www.calfnews.net The Sky is the Limit The future is a connected market. An installed base of Allflex panel readers, handheld devices and paired visual and EID tags is an ecosystem of opportunity for you. Our Digital ID products connect thousands of ranches, feed yards and beef processors. Save time and money in feedlot operations. Gain on opportunities in your supply chains. Deliver data on program cattle. Verify specifications and prove the value of load lots. At Allflex® we help you bring it all together. www.allflexusa.com sorghum grains in silage have very poor digestibility. A key factor in maximizing nutrition in your feed is to use a male sterile variety. We should think of this as a “steer.” Male sterile varieties contain a gene that prevents viable pollen from being produced, so the plants cannot fertilize themselves. It was originally developed as a cover crop for vegetable farmers who did not want volunteer sorghum coming up the following year. Researching the variety, Kilcer concluded that the feed value of male steriles is excellent and is enhanced when the crop is left to mature from six to eight weeks after heading. The plant’s energy continues to be stored in the leaves and stems rather than being retained in the heads. For fussy dairy rations, little additional corn and less protein needs to be added to the male sterile silage ration. Corn supplies more energy to cattle in the form of starch; however, forage sorghums run about 18 percent sugar, providing a like amount of nutrients. He went on to say that male sterile plants in New York conditions, seven weeks after heading, will contain 28 to 29 percent dry matter. Every truckload will have more feed value and less water than corn silage. Beef cattle benefit from the more highly digestible fiber level and metabo- lizable protein, as well. Kilcer reports that, on test, the right forage sorghums could provide a more economical rate of gain in feedlot cattle than corn silage. What Else Is on The Horizon? The huge genetic base of sorghums allow changes to happen relatively quickly. Brown midrib varieties are avail- able that yield closely to conventional plants and provide more total digestible nutrients per truckload of silage. New varieties are being developed, giving northern U.S. and Canadian farmers an option to raise sorghums. Years ago, they were thought of as being a southern U.S. crop. Not so anymore. For those interested in niche markets, BMR male sterile sorghums may be fed to beef cattle in the feedlot and marketed as grass-fed beef. BMR sorghum Sudan grass is becoming a favorable option as feed in organic lots. One More Thing: An Amazing Development Non-GMO, herbicide-tolerant variet- ies of forage sorghum have recently been developed. They provide the same advantage as GMO (genetically modi- fied organism) crops, but were estab- lished through selective breeding rather than genetic modification. Researchers are now working on development of “stacking” the herbicide-tolerant vari- ety with an aphid resistant-gene. The sorghum industry is leaving no stone unturned in catching up with row crop producers. Kilcer’s additional research includes methods of harvesting alfalfa hay to optimize nutritional value. He has also conducted extensive studies on triticale in his quest to improve crop production and feed quality for livestock. Kilcer is enthusiastic for the future of a crop that is dependable, practical and doable, no matter the class of cattle you’re raising. 