SORGHUMS FOR FORAGE IN SOUTH DAKOTA. 1 



By Manley Champlin and George Winright. 



Sorghum is commonly used for forage in South Da- 

 kota. In the United States, three-fourths of the total 

 herbage produced by all sorghums is consumed as coarse 

 forage. Forage sorghums include the species that are 

 more valuable for their edible fodder than for their seed. 

 The most promising of these are the black and red seed- 

 ed amber canes and Sudan grass. Dwarf milo, feterita, 

 kafir, shallu and some others are also grown in some lo- 

 calities. 



It is the purpose of this bulletin to give the results 

 of comparative trials of the producing power of these 

 crops and to give directions for growing the crop based 

 on our experience at the South Dakota Experiment Sta- 

 tion farms at Brookings, Cottonwood, Eureka, Highmore 

 and Vivian. In order that the reader may form a cor- 

 rect idea of the value of sorghum, comparisons of vari- 

 ous sorghums with such well known crops as corn and 

 millet are inserted. 



Reasons for Growing Sorghums. 



One of the principal reasons for growing any of the 

 sorghum crops is the fact that they may be used as catch 

 crops. When cut worms, spring floods, poor seed or any 

 other cause prevent one from securing a stand of corn 

 or other crop, sorghum is a valuable substitute. They 

 grow well during hot weather of midsummer and will 

 often make a good yield of forage even though planted 

 as late as the first of July. For some parts of the state 

 this crop is desirable because of its adaptability to hot 

 weather and limited moisture conditions. Sorghum 

 gives good results in seasons which are too dry for corn 

 as it is able to remain dormant during short periods of 



I. The experiments reported iwere conducted on the Brookings, 

 Cottonwood, Eureka and Highmore farms of the South Dakota Ex- 

 periment Station under cooperative agreement between the Agronomy 

 Department of the South Dakota Experiment Station and the Office 

 of Forage Crop Investigations of the U. 'S. Department of Agriculture, 

 until 1915, when cooperation was discontinued and the work has 

 since 'been carried independently >by the 'South Dakota Experiment 

 Station. 



