Part 1, Section 5: Grain Sorghum
Grain Sorghum
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
When feeding grain sorghum, grind to medium fineness. All grain sorghum types are about equal to corn or barley in feeding value for cattle. In grain rations for cattle, sorghum grain should make up no more than one-half the ration. For poultry rations, use no more than 10 percent of the bird-resistant (dark seed coat) types; when using them in place of yellow corn, you must add an additional source of xanthophyll pigments to maintain proper skin and egg yolk color. When using grain sorghum in poultry and swine rations, you may need to make some adjustments to balance protein, mineral, and amino acid content.
Sorghum yields better than corn in dry years and on droughty soils. In variety trials conducted at the Southeastern Research Laboratory in Landisville, corn and sorghum yields were 150 and 135 bushels, respectively, in a good growing season and 60 and 90 bushels, respectively, in a drought year. Consider sorghum for dry soils where corn yields average 80 bushels per acre or less.