Frequently Asked Questions


Q:   We are thinking of planting our creek bottom pasture(~70 acres) in Milo so that we can use it for a Fee-Based game bird hunting outfit. After the bird season is over I would like to turn cows out on it, and not harvest it. Do you think this is OK?

A:   The major concern here is the grain or berry. I assume that there will be plenty of milo heads still remaining in the field. The berry has a very hard outter coat that needs to be cracked for cattle to efficiently utilize the grain. So first impression there is no problem grazing cattle. However, I have seen cows founder when grazing milo fields where ther was a lot of down milo or heads left on the stalks. So I think in this situation, where there are plenty of milo heads available, founder is possible. A possible management strategy, is to cross-fence and limit access to reduce the chances of founder or graze some steers or heifers or cull cows ahead of the pregnant cows.


Dr. Rick Rasby, Professor of Animal Science
Animal Science, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
December 6th, 2007

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