Sorghum Silage as a Feed Alternative for Backgrounding Heifers in Florida

Sorghum has been gaining attention in Florida as a crop alternative harvested as whole plant silage for inclusion in backgrounding diets as the main roughage source to fill the forage gap in winter feeding programs. The objective of this publication is to share the experience of three consecutive y...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Federico Tarnonsky, Federico Podversich, Araceli Maderal, Nicolas DiLorenzo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries 2025-04-01
Series:EDIS
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/view/134657
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Sorghum has been gaining attention in Florida as a crop alternative harvested as whole plant silage for inclusion in backgrounding diets as the main roughage source to fill the forage gap in winter feeding programs. The objective of this publication is to share the experience of three consecutive years at the North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC) in Marianna, Florida, using whole-plant sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) silage as the main dietary ingredient for growing heifers. County Extension agents and cattle producers can use this report to reference a range of expected weight gains, feed conversion rates, and costs when using sorghum silage as the main dietary ingredient in backgrounding beef cattle diets. Adopting this technology could increase the opportunity for producers to add value to weaned calves across Florida, where there are suitable conditions for growing sorghum. 
ISSN:2576-0009