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Colby, KS | First off, my location is much different than yours, so my opinion will be naturally skewed to my environment. With that being said, what you are experiencing this year is not that much drier than a "normal" year here....so perhaps my opinion will be applicable.
Milo can handle a lot more dryness than corn, however the timeliness of rainfall may be even more important. Much of milo's yield potential is determined at 2 growth stages. The first is panicle differentiation (around 6-8 leaf stage). In my experience, moisture stress enough at this point cuts yield potential by 30-50%. The second is at heading time through grain fill. If under moisture stress, milo simply delays heading. If rain comes soon, the heads normally pop right out. Of course, the more rain after heading, the better as it goes right into grain development. If rain doesn't come soon, it waits for a while and then either starts to die or tries to make a head that ends up half retained in the leaves and poorly pollinated. Getting the head out and pollinated is a big, big step. Even a nice 1" rain at this point makes a huge difference.
In my opinion, a 120 bu/a corn environment should grow 120+ bushel milo if the rainfall is timely. If not, expect 80-100.
I consider my dryland to have similar 120-140 yield potential for both corn and milo in a wet year. In a "normal" year (15-18" rainfall) I expect 80-100 bu corn and 90-120 bu milo. In a dry year (like this one), the corn is pretty much already cooked (I think my best dryland has <50 bu potential right now) and the milo can wait about another 3 weeks for rain. If we get a couple good rains, the milo still has >100 potential.
To sum up, if continued drought (or an acreage hedge against it) is your plan, I'd definitely recommend some milo. Just remember that when it turns wet again, you will be disappointed with it compared to corn. But while it is dry, milo is your friend.
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For you milo growers
