Whether it’s for grazing, hay or silage production, we offer a versatile range of summer forage products.
Our hybrids have been bred and produced in the tropics for the tropics. To maximise productivity and increase feed quality across a range of livestock industries.
Forage Sorghum
Varieties
Sweet Abundance
Sweet Sorghum x Sorghum Sudan
Genuine all-rounder
Great for grazing, silage, hay or stand-over feed.
Feed value (sugar content) increases with maturity.
High sugar content and high energy feed with excellent palatability
Potential for very high bio-mass yield with high palatability
Versatile and flexible planting and cutting window
Feed value and sugar levels increases with maturity
Suitable for pit silage, hay, beef grazing, late summer carryover feed for winter
Finerdan
Sudan x Sorghum Sudan
Very fine stems and Photo-Period Sensitive (PPS) flowering allows for on going hay production and ease of management.
Very fine stemmed – for better hay making and round bale silage
Has a high leaf to stem ratio delivers a greater volume of feed
Excellent recovery from grazing and cutting
Delayed flowering maximises dry matter yield with maintained quality
Photo-period sensitive to ensure flowering time and ease of management over large areas
Bountiful
Sudan x Sorghum Sudan
Photo Period Sensitive trait allows for ease of management over large areas, highest total dry matter yield
Highest dry matter yield of all Crown Seed Hybrids
Excellent option for green manure cropping, hay and grazing
Rapid regrowth and recovery from grazing and cutting
Delayed flowering maximises dry matter yield with maintained quality
Photo-period sensitive to ensure flowering time and ease of management over large areas
Which Variety is Best for Me?
Selection Guide
PHOTO PERIOD SENSITIVITY IT’S MORE THAN JUST DELAYED FLOWERING
What is Photo-Period Sensitivity
What is delayed or late flowering compared to Photo-period sensitive (PPS) flowering
If the grower is looking for maximum yield with the highest nutritional value then delayed flowering or PPS varieties could be a good option. Though there is no formal classification in this space, delayed or late flowering varieties should take over 90 days to flower. This is altered if the variety has been previously cut.
How PPS is different? It is still late flowering, so over 90 days to maturity but it has the added trait of daylight sensitivity. So it also will only be able to trigger a flower head (reproductive state) when daylight hours are under 12hrs 20 minutes. Therefore, over summer months/ wet season months, it will not be able to produce a flower/seed head. Keeping it in a vegetative state the whole wet season.
Growers should not purposefully delay cutting and cutting should be conducted at optimum times but if we have a prolonged wet season or prolonged periods of rain it will allow more flexibility to manage decisions.
It is also of benefit if looking for one cut with maximum yield. So if looking to produce the maximum amount of bulk. These varieties if planted during the wet season and not cut until the end of the wet will produce bulk amounts of feed compared to quick maturity varieties as the plant’s dry matter yield stops increasing once the plant has flowered.
Speed of maturity vs Speed of Quick Feed
It is a common mis-conception that the number of days to maturity indicates days to ideal cut-ting or maximum yields. Speed of maturity is a measure of how many days it takes a plant to flower. It does not indicate or have any bearing on how quickly the plant will grow or how quickly it will produce feed.
How does maturity affect the crop?
As with all grasses, young leaves and shoots have the highest nutritional value, as the plant matures digestibility, metabolisable energy and protein will all decline. Forage sorghums are best grazed while they are still in the vegetative state but have gained sufficient height to re-duce the risk of prussic acid poisoning. Sweet sorghums due to higher sugar content continue to provide quality forage to later
growth stages compared to other types. NSW DPI Forage Fact Sheet.
Cover Cropping – Green Manure Crops
PPS sorghum varieties are also very useful for green manure or cover crops over the wet sea-son. The fact that they can be grown over the wet season and not be reproductive means we re-duce the burden of sorghum volunteers in the next cropping system. And again if looking for bulk dry matter to plough back into the soil. These PPS varieties can provide the most dry matter yield over the wet season.
