Sampling Sudan

This week I got to spend more time with Travis Bunn. As I continued to work on the AI spreadsheet, I also got to spend some time out in the field. I got to travel with Travis to see some Sudan grass fields that he had planted late spring. The fields were planted to be harvested, baled, and wrapped to ferment into a higher quality forage for livestock.

When we got to the Sudan grass fields, It was obvious that they were much greater quality than any other grass hay. It was nothing but thick, luscious dark green blades. We then took cuttings with some clippers and chopped stalks into a zip lock bag so it could be sent off and analyzed. For the fresh sample that was sent off, Travis was wanting to test for nitrates since it had been fairly dry. Stressful conditions like drought can cause Sudan grass to build up nitrates in the lower portion of the stem. If large amounts of nitrates are consumed in a short amount of time then it can be lethal to cattle. After cutting a sample of the fresh Sudan, we went to Travis’s home farm and looked at some Sudan hay that had been mowed 4 days prior. It had already been baled and wrapped but we were looking at the leftover stalks and leaves left on the ground. We took a sample and were interested in the moisture content of the sample 4 days after mowing compared to the fresh sample that was just took. The samples came back and the fresh sample did not contain any nitrates and the moisture content was around 90%. The 4 day post cutting sample contained 45% moisture which almost guarantees that someone could not make this forage as a dry hay. It would take too long to dry and would be too big of a risk with weather.