Sorghum: An Alternative for Animal Feed in Regenerative Agriculture

In recent years, sorghum has started to catch the attention of farmers and homesteaders. It's one of the top crops to grow in the U.S., and for good reason. This versatile crop is easier to grow, more resistant to disease and pests, and it's one of the least water-reliant crops in the world. Sorghum is a multifaceted grain, checking just about every box that a grain can possibly check. It's a highly nutritious grain for human consumption, a lot like quinoa, and it's a very good base grain for making beer and biofuel. Heck, you can even make syrup from it. Then there's its use as animal fodder, which will be our main focus for this video. It's the absolute best replacement for corn-based feeds that you can find anywhere. But let's get into where this superfood comes from, why it's such a valuable addition to the animals that it feeds, and the land from which it grows. You see, sorghum is a lot like corn in many ways. They even look the same in the early stages of their growth. But as soon as those seed heads start to form, it becomes very clear that these are two very different crops. Corn has lost a lot of its nutritional value in the last hundred years or so, thanks to our human tinkering to make it bigger and grow faster. All that growth, and at those speeds, comes at a heavy cost. It's now mostly carbohydrates and empty calories. And even with the high yield that corn can deliver, it still doesn't compare to the amount of produce that most of the ancient grains have to give at the end of the season. We've mentioned a few of them in our other videos before. The difference in sheer weight of the product and the nutritional value of the old stuff just leaves corn in the dust. Rye, African rice, aca, buckwheat, and our old favorite amaranth are all enormously high-yielding crops that come with double the nutritional value. And sorghum is right up there with them. Sorghum originated from dry and arid regions in and around what is now Sudan some 8,000 years ago. Given the grain's natural proclivity to drier climates, it's not surprising that it's evolved to live on less water and less nutrients. Even soils that lose their biological buildup and are prone to erosion can sustain sorghum. This makes them the ideal crop to plant if you want to repair depleted soil but still be able to get some income from that piece of land. Leaving their roots in the ground over winter will significantly reduce runoff, keeping that microbial life intact. Remember, regenerative agriculture doesn't just end with growing as organically as possible. It's also about extending the life of your soil, repairing the damage wrought by nature or human hands, and bringing back the health of the earth and, in turn, the health of the food you produce. Through the centuries, sorghum became a staple crop in most of Africa. It's too versatile not to be. Like we mentioned, it's a grain that is used both for eating and to make alcoholic beverages. Then there's the natural sugar. Sorghum syrup is processed the same way that sugar is from sugar cane. It's pressed out of the stalks and boiled down to form a syrup. This opens up a whole new field for human consumption. Sorghum honestly has so many uses that we could devote an entire video just to its human uses. The grains also serve as animal feed, both for livestock and fowl. At the end of the day, the entire plant is used. Seed heads as food, stalks for sugar, and leaves for fresh eating for animals. They probably found their way to U.S. soil with the slave trade, and since then, it's always been around. It's the fifth most widely grown grain crop in the United States, and it's only recently that people have really looked into it again for human consumption, mostly because it's a good gluten-free option that actually tastes pretty good. The reasons why large-scale farmers are growing it are exactly the reasons you should be too, if anything, for those who wish to move away from buying feed, sorghum is your best bet out of all of the grains that you have at your disposal, both from a nutritional standpoint and as an optimally high-yield source of feed. There are fewer mycotoxins in sorghum than in corn, and it has higher amounts of lysine and tryptophan. Sorghum is also made up of 9.5% protein, whereas animal-grade corn only has 8%. To put that into perspective, the only other grain that can begin to compare to that amount of protein is cumat, a Middle Eastern grain with 9.8% protein. The rest all fall short when put up against sorghum. This high amount of protein, energy, and natural sugars makes it a much better option as a primary food source for every single livestock animal on your farm. Sorghum does not contain any pigments that can be absorbed by animals, and fat rendered from pigs fed on a sorghum diet is whiter than that of corn-fed hogs. Actually, every study done to compare corn and sorghum when it comes to pigs has been excellent. They perform equally well on either feed, with the exception of sorghum being the superior choice for lard purposes. It's perfectly acceptable for beef and dairy cows, with its nutritional makeup being so close to corn that it performs virtually the same. Except when it comes to protein, sugars, and lignin, it does a little better than the usual corn-based feeds. And from a growing perspective, both corn and sorghum require the same equipment and general conditions. If you are considering switching over, there won't be any additional equipment or expertise required to make the move. At the end of the day, it can cost up to 50% less than corn to get it from seed to harvest, and that's just a low estimate. The seeds are less expensive, the amount of pesticides and fertilizer drops enormously, and it's a naturally pest-resistant grain to grow. And we're not just referring to the critters and bugs that'll be interested. Deer and rodents aren't all that fond of sorghum. That's not to say they won't eat it if conditions are harsh enough, but deer especially will seek something else before they bother nibbling on those hard kernels. Even the worst soils will produce a decent grade crop, and the driest season won't bother them all that much either. It's a desert grain, after all. If anything, sorghum doesn't do well if they get too much water. It can give off double the tonnage, not just because it has a decent amount of grain on each stalk, but because they can be planted so close together. Corn is finicky about spacing, and it needs a certain amount of room. Sorghum, on the other hand, can grow as closely together as grasses do, right on top of each other. The only thing this super grain really needs is nitrogen, and lots of it, because it grows fast. Grain sorghum goes from planting to harvest in three months. Sweet sorghum needs four months before harvest time comes. For the smaller operations, fresh chicken manure, or any fowl species, and a layer of grass clippings will be more than enough to supply the grain with all the nitrogen and phosphorus it needs. But larger operations will have to look at chemical sources to cover those amounts of nitrogen. Unless you can get your hands on a ton or two of grass clippings, it'll just be less labor-intensive to seek out another nitrogen source. And speaking of chemical aid, that's the only worry we have for sorghum. Its quick rise has made it an absolute necessity on the livestock feeding front. This has caused big corporations to look into producing seeds that are altered to grow faster, produce bigger heads, and require even less water. Honestly, sorghum already does better on all of these fronts than corn does. There's just no need to alter it, like we've done with corn. All of our fiddling on a genetic level has stripped corn of most of its nutrients, and commercial seeds aren't capable of giving off more seeds that can be regrown next season. Do we really need another GMO grain when sorghum is already better than its competitors who have gone through all of that altering? And we have one final mention. Sorghum is a warm climate grain. The northern states are just too wet and too cold for it to thrive. Even mild frosts can turn it toxic. It's the prussic acid that's present in the plant. It's active in its early growing stages, so young shoots will contain high enough amounts to kill livestock. This poisonous compound becomes inactive once the sorghum reaches around 24 inches in height. After that point, it's perfectly safe for animals to graze on. You'll just have to plan accordingly about how you're going to space out your rotational grazing. It'll only become active again when the temperature drops low enough to cause frost. But then again, sorghum won't do well in places that are too cool anyway. It's not just the cold that will make them struggle. It's the excess amounts of water. Glacial runoff, morning dew that runs into late morning, and general muggy weather is too much for it to handle. Sorghum does well in tropical areas, even if there is more water. The moisture in the air is offset somewhat by the high temperatures. Sorghum just thrives in the heat. It's a grain that was made to grow in scorching heat, extreme drought, and with the least amount of care possible. Sorghum is quickly going to surpass corn at the rate it's going, and it's high time that we had an alternative to feeding our animals. Quite frankly, having all of our eggs in the corn basket is just asking for a disaster waiting to happen. It only takes one disease or one unusual season that can wipe out entire harvests, and then our animals will starve. We've been in dire need of alternatives for years now, and it's an indispensable grain on small holdings. For those of us that cannot afford the high cost of growing corn with all of the additional machinery, fertilizer, pesticides, and the inevitable losses at the end of the day, sorghum is there to grow more, supply you with more nutritional feed, and to do so with the least amount of effort from you. There's no reason that sorghum shouldn't be considered by farmers across the country. And what about you? Do you agree with us that sorghum is a great alternative to feed on the market, and that its ease of growing makes it optional for you to step away from commercial feed altogether? Let us know in the comments below. Before you leave, don't forget to leave support by liking this video and subscribing so you don't miss out on any new uploads from us. See you next week. Cheers!