How to Feed Cattle Sorghum

Sorghum, also known as milo, is a type of cereal grass. Almost all sorghum grown in the United States is used as grain or fodder for animals. It's difficult to make a good-quality hay from sorghum because of its high moisture content. Instead, it's usually used as silage, which is a fermented, high-moisture fodder. Sorghum grain is hard for cattle to digest because of its hard, waxy covering. However, processing the grain before feeding it to cattle can reduce the amount of grain that passes through them undigested.

Things You'll Need

  • Sorghum silage
  • Grain sorghum
  • Calcium/phosphorus supplement
  • Dried green feed
  • Sorghum gluten feed
  • Molasses
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Instructions

  1. Silage

    • 1

      Feed high-producing cows 35 to 45 lbs. of sorghum silage every day. Lower producing cows require more silage. If you have access to corn silage as well as sorghum silage, you should use the corn silage for cows that produce more milk.

    • 2

      Roll the silage before feeding it to cattle, if the silage comes from grain sorghum. Grain sorghum has a high grain-to-forage ratio but the grain is hard for cattle to digest. Rolling the silage helps to break down the grain's hard shell and improves its food value.

    • 3

      Feed additional grain, if the silage comes from sweet sorghum. Silage from sweet sorghum provides less energy than corn silage. Each cow will need 2 to 5 lbs. of grain, depending on how much weight you want it to gain.

    • 4

      Provide cattle with a calcium and phosphorus supplement, because sorghum has insufficient amounts of these important minerals.

    Grain

    • 5

      Grind sorghum grain before feeding it to cattle. Grain should be moderately fine. If the grain is finely ground, your cattle won't eat as much of it.

    • 6

      Supplement sorghum grain with 3 percent dried green feed, because sorghum grain lacks carotene.

    • 7

      Mix sorghum gluten feed with molasses to counteract its bitter taste.