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KS | I have a neighbor that had a bunch of failed milo that did not head out at all. He did a test chopping for silage and the nitrate levels were 2550 ppm, we are not setup to feed silage and it sounds like a pain in the butt for 30-35 cows. I asked him if we could just graze the stalks and he said we couldn't because all the nitrates are in the tips of the leaves where it is brown and the cows would eat them first and die. I may be mistaken but I have always read the nitrates are located in the bottom portion of the stalk, could you please let me know which way it is. As well he said baling stalks will cause them to be stringy and the cows won't eat them well, is this a problem I should be concerned with? The protein level on a dry matter basis was 10% with a 111 feed value. I am interested in this because the price is quite a bit cheaper than prairie hay at 4-6% protein, which I am having a tough time coming up with for less than 110 a ton out of the field. |
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North Mo. | that's what I have always heard. You could take a few test of tips to see, also beware of frost, fig. where you are from you already know that. Ben |
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Texas/New Mexico Stateline | I have never heard anybody worried about nitrates grazing milo stalks. The actual stalks are the last part the cattle eat anyway. And I think you are right, there won't be much nitrates in the leaves, if any. Just take them off before they graze them down too hard. I have seen lots of guys graze them into the dirt and never even tested for nitrates.
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SE KS | Never grazed Milo stalks no Milo in our area. What will frost do, just curious ???? Thanks in advance. |
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North Mo. | as I understand it will cause prussic poisoning no expert on it though. Ben |
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Eastern Half of Kansas | Ben, that is what I was thinking was prussic acid poisoning. You have to watch the sucker heads too. |
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KS | Thanks for the replies I will talk it over with my neighbor and hopefully be able to graze the stalks. |
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| When I was growing up Dad pastured milo stalks every winter. He always said that you should wait until several days after a killing frost where the whole plant dies. He said that if the plant gets hit by a light frost but is still alive and starts to regrow it would develop prussic acid and kill cows by the time they took their third mouth full. He wouldn't graze milo stalks until at least two weeks after a hard freeze which in our area sometimes was late November or early December. |
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Grazing milo stalks and nitrate levels
