A millet variety tested at Agriculture Canada’s Brandon Research Centre holds promise for cattle producers wanting to extend their grazing season.
The federal research centre is into its third year of studying Golden German millet as a forage that can be swath grazed in early winter.
So far, the results have been encouraging, said Clayton Robins, a pasture management technician at the centre.
Golden German millet thrives in hot, dry weather and has done well in the lighter soils at the Brandon Research Centre. For three consecutive years, the millet variety has yielded lush, leafy plants.
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“I think it has a lot of potential,” said Robins. “The utilization has been pretty good. The cows just go nuts over this stuff.”
The research centre plants the Golden German millet in mid June, swaths it in late summer, and allows dry cows to graze it from mid-November into December.
The cost of growing the millet is comparable to growing a cereal crop, said Robins.
The millet is seeded at a rate of 20-25 pounds per acre. Nitrogen is applied at a rate of 50 to 60 lb.
“It’s a pretty cheap crop to grow,” Robins said.
A broadleaf herbicide is applied once in late June. The Golden German millet develops into a thick crop that competes well against weeds.
The crop is swathed in late August or early September.
That means the millet will be left in swaths for more than two months before it is grazed. According to Robins, the millet has shown that it can hold its quality during that time.
At the Brandon Research Centre, the millet variety is grown on 20 acres.
Partitioned with electric fencing to allow the cattle to graze only a portion of the field at a time, the plot has been able to carry 128 dry cows for more than three weeks in early winter.
The cows were moved every two days. A well planned system of electric fencing is a must, said Robins. For water, the cows had access to a heated drinking bowl.
Two years ago, the cows grazed the swaths of millet from Nov. 22 to Dec. 17. The weather was unseasonably mild during that time.
Last year, the same cows grazed on the millet swaths from Nov. 10 to Dec. 3.
“They like eating green stuff that late in the year,” Robins said. “If they can flip over the snow and find something green, they’re pretty happy.”
In 1999, the swath-grazed millet provided 5.2 animal unit months per acre. The daily dry matter intake per cow was 18 kilograms.
Last year, the animal unit months per acre dropped to 3.2. Meanwhile, the daily dry matter intake rose to 21 kg.
Robins had only two cautionary notes about growing Golden German millet for swath grazing.
Producers should have the crop tested for nitrate levels at the time of swathing to avoid the risk of nitrate poisoning.
As well, there are a limited number of herbicides registered for use on millet in Canada. Wild millet is one of the weeds that could pose a challenge for producers growing German Golden millet.
