Cattle producers who have suffered significant hail damage this spring may want to consider planting a forage millet.
Two main millet species are planted in Western Canada.
Crown millet, formally known as Panicum milaceum and also called proso or grain millet, is grown primarily for feed grain and birdseed, but it has also been grown successfully as a forage crop.
It is a warm season grass that is well adapted to prairie summers but is sensitive to frost and usually planted in June.
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Crown millet is a relatively short-season crop and will mature in 70 to 100 days after seeding in Western Canada. The time required for maturity will vary with variety, seeding date and summer temperatures. When taken for a hay crop, it can often be cut and in the bale 90 days after seeding.
The millet has a shallow root system, but the water requirements are less than for most other crops because of its short growing season.
It can be cut for hay at early heading until full heading. It will shell out badly if left to full maturity but can be baled or made into silage.
Crown millet will regrow after cutting, so additional grazing may be obtained if moisture is adequate.
The other species of millet often grown are the Foxtail Millets, Foxtail millet, also known as Setaria italica-L comes in a wide range of varieties from early maturing Siberian through the midrange German to the long season white.
Reduction in maturity means a corresponding reduction in yield.
They are warm-season grasses that are well adapted to the summer temperature of the Prairies.
Short season varieties have been planted in July and resulted in good forage yield.
However, foxtail millets are a little more difficult to manage at harvest. Their leaves are covered with a waxy coating, and the stems can be thick, which results in poor dry-down.
The crop should be crimped if intended for baling.
Another option is to use glyphosate to initiate dry-down. This process, which is called yellow feed, involves spraying the crop with a low rate of glyphosate — .33 to .5 litres per acre of 500 grams per litre product — and allowing it to dry down while standing. Foxtail millet is also difficult to chop for silage, so make sure the silage operator has lots of horsepower and that his knives are in good condition.
Its waxy leaves make it an excellent candidates for swath grazing. This surface prevents the crop from significant degradation in the swath. Unlike crown millet, foxtail millets have little regrowth after cutting.
Other crops that have been grown as forage alternatives in emergency situations include Sudan grass and sorghum-Sudan crosses, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and Japanese millet (Echinochloa crusgalli frumentacea). These all have a longer growing season and are riskier to plant after the first of June, except in the extreme southern areas south of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Excellent provincial online re-sources are available that will discuss production issues such as seeding rates, fertility and weed management.
