chicken notes: sorghum

Sorghum

• In February 2007, as an experiment, i ordered a pound of 'Apache Red Sorghum' from Seeds of Change, and planted it mid-May on a couple garden beds, as part of a cover crop mix.  It grew impressively fast and easily, with no pests or other problem. Less than 5 months later, it is tall and healthy with big heads of grain on it. 
• Wikipedia pages on Sorghum and Commercial Sorghum are a great starting place.  It is a subtropical plant, native to Africa, it likes hot weather, can tolerate drought better than corn.  It can produce the same amount of food per acre as corn.  It can tolerate a wide range of soil pH and textures.
• Could this be a good crop to try on a larger scale?  Or is it likely to develop mildew problems, like other grains in this climate?
  • The good news is that many online references say that many sorghum varieties are very resistant to mildew etc.
  • The bad news, UH researchers say: "we always ended up with fungal problems with grain crops including sorghum in our Hilo-Hamakua environment."  Need to find the exact research results!  Apparently the last research was done in the 1960s?
• Harvesting: (from fao.org):
  • In developing countries, almost all sorghum is harvested by hand. The panicle is cut from the standing stalk at about 16-20 percentage moisture content, and the stalks left for animals to graze the best of the residual leaf material. In other communities, the stalks are cut and stored for use as dry season animal fodder, or for house thatching and fencing. Late harvesting can lead to spontaneous shedding of the grain from the panicles.  In the USA, Australia and Argentina where dwarf hybrids are popular, the sorghum grain is threshed from the standing stalks by combine harvester.
    In rural Africa, threshing involves beating the dried sorghum panicles with sticks on the ground or in sacks, or using a mortar and pestle. In some places in India, a common practice for threshing the grain is to place it on the road for vehicles to run over. (!)
• It sounds like you don't have to do any further work to use it as chicken feed: just make sure the grains are dry if stored, then feed directly to the birds.
• In October i did the experiment of presenting a panicle of sorghum grains to my chickens.  They just looked at it quizzically, not recognizing it as food.  When i stripped off the grains with my fingers and threw them on the ground, then the chickens ate them.  So, that is a small amount of work needed, but it is confirmation that chickens will eat Hawaiian-grown, whole un-milled sorghum.

References

• Grain Sorghum (Milo) and Sorghum spp. from the Alternative Field Crops Manual.
• Interestingly, one of the old common names gives for sorghum is "Mississippi chicken corn."
• GRAIN SORGHUM (MILO) PRODUCTION GUIDELINES from North Dakota says "Grain sorghum is a major commodity crop in the U.S. and production is supported by the Farm Service Agency (loan and LDP payments available)"

Varieties

• There are so many other varieties around the world, the FAO site says about 17 thousand sorghums cultivars in China(!)  There is no list of sorghum varieties available, so i have compiled the following descriptions from any sources i could find.
• There are sorghum varieties used for forage, grain, syrup, and wild game feed.
•  The chief varieties of sorghum in the United States are termed sorgo, kafir, durra, milo, feterita, shallu, kaoliang, and broomcorn. Sudangrass, or Sudan grass, is also a variety of the same species.
• The name 'milo' is used for a kind of sorghum that is explicitly for grain.
• As a commodity in the mainland USA, the variety is just "Sorghum, No. 2 yellow"
• Red Apache from Seeds of Change, variety i bought in 2007 ($5.70/lb)
  • "It is extremely productive, grows to 8 or 9 feet and yields 5000-10,000 lb/acre dry matter within three months of planting. It is the perfect crop to grow when large amounts of carbon-rich material are needed for your compost pile. Plant at 25-50 lb/acre or .6-1.2 lb/1000 sq.ft. "
  • probably not bred for grain output, it seems to be meant for 'green manure'.
• Black Amber Cane from Southern Exposure ($8.75 per 1/4 pound)
  • "99 days. [Heirloom sent to us from R.C. Mauldin of the Southwestern Seed Service Lab in Waco, Texas. Reintroduced by SESE in 1997.] 'Black Amber Cane' was one of the earliest sweet canes introduced to American agriculture. It was supplanted by 'Redtop' which has a higher yield. Used primarily as a syrup sorghum. As a silage crop it has the hay and wild game quality of 'Merit'. Makes a good intercrop with beans and peas. Stalks range from 6 to 8' bearing large shiny black seeds."
• Green Gold Sorghum (Milo) (Wetsels Variety) from HFF (Virginia) (price?)
  • "Produces grain and has comparable feed values as corn.  Is an early maturing variety that thrashes easily but doesn't shatter out of the head.  Is resistance to smut and can tolerate high levels of moisture and is drought tolerant.  Will produce on high soils, heavy clays or deep blacklands, making it extremely adaptable.  The extra large root system on the mature plant accounts for its great standability.  Grows 4-5 ft. tall."
• Jowar is a white grain sorghum berry used for cereal and breads by many African and South Asian cultures.
• Reiner's Farms Grain Sorghum, from MannaHarvest, Organic, 5lbs. $8.42 (!)
  • "grown organically in Nebraska and is GMO free. The crop has been adapted to the dry hot climate of the midwest and southwest United States."
• Also at Purcell Mountain Farms, 5 lbs. - $ 11.95 and at OrganicKingdom.com, 5 lbs. $8.28
  • I wrote them to ask whether this sorghum will sprout.  They said:
    From: Purcell Mountain Farms [mailto:purcellmtn@povn.com]
    Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 7:25 PM
    the grain sorghum is a whole grain and will sprout. I hope this little bit of information will help you.
    Sabine, Purcell Mountain Farms, Idaho, 866-440-2326