Diverse Forage Crop Rotation: Sorghum
alternative practice names:
Alternative Crops; Alternative Forages
Sorghum is a diverse botanical genus that includes grain sorghum (milo), forage sorghum, sudangrass, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, and others. Forage sorghum is a warm-season annual grass similar to corn, known for its versatility and resilience, particularly in hot, dry conditions. Compared to forage corn, it has high water-use efficiency, is more drought tolerant, and requires less nitrogen and pesticides. Biomass yields can be similar to corn, but forage sorghum has lower fiber digestibility. This is partly due to the starch in sorghum berries, which do not break down as effectively as corn kernels during processing, limiting digestibility. There are primarily two types of forage sorghum used for forage:
Brown mid-rib (BMR) sorghum: This type has a genetic trait that reduces lignin content, improving fiber digestibility and nutritional value for livestock. BMR hybrids can have fiber digestibility levels comparable to conventional corn silage. However, the starch in whole-plant BMR sorghum silage remains less digestible than corn starch because sorghum berries do not break down sufficiently during processing.
BMR male-sterile sorghum: These hybrids feature a trait that prevents pollination, assuming no other sorghum, sorghum-sudan, or sudangrass plants are nearby. Male-sterile hybrids do not produce grain and instead accumulate higher sugar levels, which can partially compensate for the energy loss associated with their lower starch content. This sugar can serve as an alternative energy source for livestock.
Forage sorghum can be managed as a single-cut crop similar to corn silage, or it can be grown as sorghum-sudangrass for multiple harvests, providing up to three cuts of high-quality, digestible forage under hot conditions. It can also be used for grazing or haylage, offering a versatile option that delivers higher quality forage compared to cool-season perennial grasses during summer months.
When used, in what regions in the U.S. is the practice found:
Northwest, West, Upper Midwest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast
FARM SIZE
When used, typically found on farms of the following sizes:
All Sizes

Practice Benefits
Increased profitability: Production costs associated with sorghum are lower than those associated with corn, as its seeds are much less expensive and the crop has a lower nitrogen requirement. However, because forage sorghum has a lower digestibility than corn, farms may need to purchase additional concentrates or grains to balance the ration.
Shorter growing season for flexible cropping options: Forage sorghum's shorter growing season makes it ideal for double cropping in cooler climates, where it can be planted later than corn and paired with a cereal grain. In regions where triple cropping is possible, such as the southern U.S., it can be planted after corn silage harvest and harvested before winter cereals are sown, maximizing land use and productivity.
Reduced pesticide use: The resilience of forage sorghum generally allows for lower pesticide usage compared to corn, contributing to reduced chemical inputs and environmental impact.
Water conservation: One of sorghum’s major advantages is its reduced water requirement. Once established, it is highly drought-tolerant, producing up to twice as much dry matter per inch of water compared to corn silage, making it an efficient option in water-limited conditions.
Superior heat tolerance: Unlike corn silage, which ceases growth at temperatures above 85°F, forage sorghum can continue growing in temperatures up to 105°F, providing a reliable forage option in regions with high heat.
Summer grazing advantage: Sorghum-sudangrass offers an excellent option for summer forage, providing high-quality, digestible feed during the summer slump when cool-season perennial grasses are less productive. It supports multiple grazings, with the potential for up to three high-quality cuts under hot conditions, delivering better digestibility and fiber quality compared to cool-season grasses.

Implementation Insights
Site-specific or Farm-specific requirements

Water availability: Sorghum can be grown in many environments and soil types. It is well-suited to non-irrigated acres or areas with limited supplemental irrigation.
Short growing season: Sorghum may have a niche in northern areas of the U.S. with a shorter growing season as part of a double crop rotation with a small grain, as it can be planted later than corn and into warmer soil temperatures (>65 degrees, ideally).
Required Capital Expenditures (CapEx)

Planting equipment: Forage sorghum can be planted using standard equipment, such as a grain drill or row planter, making it compatible with existing farm machinery. For harvesting, forage sorghum is typically cut using the same equipment used for corn silage (e.g., forage harvesters). However, in some systems, it can be managed like a perennial forage with multiple harvests per year, which may require adjustments to cutting and harvesting equipment.
Storage infrastructure: A suitable storage structure, such as a silage bag, bunker, or pile, is necessary to ensile the forage sorghum properly. Proper storage helps maintain feed quality and ensures the sorghum can be rationed appropriately during feedout, which is essential for balancing livestock nutrition.
Required Operational Expenditures (OpEx)

Growing and harvesting costs: Expenses for growing and harvesting forage sorghum are generally similar to or lower than those for corn, primarily due to lower seed costs and reduced input requirements, such as nitrogen and water. However, it’s important to note that sorghum typically yields less biomass compared to corn silage, which may affect overall productivity per acre.
Supplemental feed costs: Additional feed purchases may be necessary to meet livestock nutrition requirements due to lower starch content and fiber digestibility—depending on the sorghum variety used.
Implementation Considerations

Short harvest window: Harvesting sorghum for forage is challenging due to the need to time the harvest for optimal nutritional quality, which often results in a very narrow harvest window of only a few days.
Uneven ripening: Sorghum's characteristic uneven ripening complicates harvest timing. Efforts have been made to address this by harvesting the grain head ("headlage") separately from the remaining fodder ("footlage").
Undigestible sorghum berries: The hard seeds (berries) of sorghum can pass through an animal's digestive system with limited nutritional benefit. Recent developments in BMR male-sterile varieties, which do not produce viable seed heads, have shown promise. These varieties may offer a longer harvest window and retain nutritional quality for a more extended period.
Pest and weed control: There has been less research and fewer breeding programs focused on sorghum, leading to fewer herbicide options and a higher risk of pest damage. Farmers should consider sorghum varieties with sugarcane aphid tolerance.
Starch and sugar content: Sorghum typically has lower starch and sugar content than corn. Forage sorghum should be supplemented with other grains to balance the diet and be comparable to a corn silage ration. It is essential to work with a nutritionist to achieve the correct balance.
Prussic acid poisoning: Sorghum contains dhurrin, which can break down into prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) and is very toxic to cattle. Dhurrin content is highest in young plants and, after a frost, farmers grazing or green-chopping forage sorghum need to take precautions. Most prussic acid is lost during curing and ensiling, making it rare for sorghum hay and silage to be toxic.
Financial Considerations and Revenue Streams
PROFIT POTENTIAL
Production costs for sorghum will likely be lower than corn's. When replacing corn silage with sorghum silage, these savings may be offset by the need to purchase additional concentrates to balance the ration. A solid enterprise analysis would confirm this.
FEDERAL COST-SHARE PROGRAM
Funding is available for this practice through USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP).
Related CSP Enhancements: Resource conserving crop rotation (E328A).
Notes:
Check with the local NRCS office on payment rates and crop rotations relevant to your location.
CARBON CREDITS
This practice is commonly credited in carbon markets. The practice can generate both offset and inset credits.
Notes:
To participate, operators generally need at least three years of management data prior to implementing a new practice. Common management data requirements cover planting, tillage, harvest, grazing, fertilization, liming, and residue management.
This practice would need to be new to the producer or expanded to additional acres to qualify for most programs.
In offset projects, producers have to guarantee soil carbon storage for 50-100 years, though avoided emissions (for example, from nitrous oxide reductions) do not carry risks of reversals (see Verra methodology and Climate Action Reserve's Soil Enrichment Protocol).
Producers typically are protected against natural disasters or unintended carbon reversals when they contribute to a carbon insurance or "buffer" pool. Intentional reversals from intensive tillage or land sales may require operators to return proceeds from the project.
The length of inset commitments would vary based on the opportunity with the corporate partner.
Credit amounts vary widely based on past management, location, weather, and the interaction between practices. A high-level estimate can be calculated using USDA COMET-Planner.
FINANCIAL RESOURCES, TOOLS, AND CASE STUDIES
Additional Resources
Article: Forage Sorghum as an Alternative Silage Crop (University of Maryland Extension)
Article: Male-Sterile Sorghum May Offer Dairy Cows Needed Energy with Less Water Use (Seed Today)
Article: Sorghum Silage: An Alternative to Corn (Progressive Dairy)
Article: What to Expect from Alternatives to Corn Silage (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Factsheet: Guidance for Growing BMR Brachytic Dwarf Forage Sorghum (Cornell University)\
Report: Utilizing the BMR Trait in Sudangrass and Sorghums (California Alfalfa and Forage Symposium)
Scientific Paper: Meta-Analysis of Dairy Cows Fed Conventional Sorghum or Corn Silages Compared with Brown Midrib Sorghum Silage (Journal of Dairy Science)
Video: Male Sterile BMR Sorghum: Alternative Summer Energy Crop (Advanced Ag Systems LLC)
Video: Male Sterile BMR Sorghum as an Energy Forage Replacement for Corn Silage (Virtual Forage Conference)
Website: The Sorghum Checkoff

Environmental Impacts
REDUCES FARM GREENHOUSE GAS FOOTPRINT
Sorghum's high water-use efficiency and ability to grow under hot, dry conditions reduce the need for irrigation, which can indirectly reduce energy use and emissions associated with water management. In addition. sorghum, especially varieties with the Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI) trait, can suppress soil nitrification, reducing the release of nitrous oxide, a potent GHG. This trait helps retain nitrogen in the soil, lowering the need for fertilizer applications and decreasing nitrogen losses as both nitrates and nitrous oxide emissions are key contributors to the GHG footprint of crop systems.
See research highlights:
Subbarao et al. (2007) demonstrated that sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) roots release BNIs, such as sorgoleone (SGLN) and methyl 3–4-hydroxyphenyl propionate (MHPP), which can significantly reduce soil nitrification and N₂O emissions. By intercropping sorghum with maize, the study observed improved crop productivity and a reduced transformation rate of NH₄⁺ to NO₃⁻, compared to maize grown alone.
Colombini et al. (2015) conducted a study of the use of forage sorghum in dairy rations. They concluded while corn silage resulted in higher milk yields and lower GWP per kilogram of milk, sorghum systems showed potential benefits in reducing resource inputs but may require more supplementation to match the energy and starch levels provided by corn.
CONSERVES WATER
Sorghum’s adaptability to dry conditions and its ability to maintain productivity with less water input allow dairy farms to conserve water resources while still producing quality forage. Moreover, the flexibility of sorghum hybrids, including early-maturing types, provides options to optimize water usage over the growing season, allowing better allocation of limited irrigation supplies.
REFerences
Sorghum Checkoff. (n.d.) The Carbon Footprint of Sorghum. Sorghum Checkoff.

Alignment with FARM Program
FARM Environmental Stewardship (ES) V2-V3 Alignment
FARM ES Version 3 includes an optional crop module, allowing users to enter their cropping practices including unique rotations to capture the benefit of those field practices. The optional FARM ES Conservation Practice Questionnaire (CPQ) also includes opportunities for farms to indicate crop rotation.
Contents
We're always eager to update the website with the latest research, implementation insights, financial case studies, and emerging practices. Use the link above to share your insights.
We're always eager to update the website with the latest research, implementation insights, financial case studies, and emerging practices. Use the link above to share your insights.
Sorghum is a diverse botanical genus that includes grain sorghum (milo), forage sorghum, sudangrass, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, and others. Forage sorghum is a warm-season annual grass similar to corn, known for its versatility and resilience, particularly in hot, dry conditions. Compared to forage corn, it has high water-use efficiency, is more drought tolerant, and requires less nitrogen and pesticides. Biomass yields can be similar to corn, but forage sorghum has lower fiber digestibility. This is partly due to the starch in sorghum berries, which do not break down as effectively as corn kernels during processing, limiting digestibility. There are primarily two types of forage sorghum used for forage:
Brown mid-rib (BMR) sorghum: This type has a genetic trait that reduces lignin content, improving fiber digestibility and nutritional value for livestock. BMR hybrids can have fiber digestibility levels comparable to conventional corn silage. However, the starch in whole-plant BMR sorghum silage remains less digestible than corn starch because sorghum berries do not break down sufficiently during processing.
BMR male-sterile sorghum: These hybrids feature a trait that prevents pollination, assuming no other sorghum, sorghum-sudan, or sudangrass plants are nearby. Male-sterile hybrids do not produce grain and instead accumulate higher sugar levels, which can partially compensate for the energy loss associated with their lower starch content. This sugar can serve as an alternative energy source for livestock.
Forage sorghum can be managed as a single-cut crop similar to corn silage, or it can be grown as sorghum-sudangrass for multiple harvests, providing up to three cuts of high-quality, digestible forage under hot conditions. It can also be used for grazing or haylage, offering a versatile option that delivers higher quality forage compared to cool-season perennial grasses during summer months.
Practices and technologies
Diverse Forage Crop Rotation: Sorghum
alternative practice name:
Alternative Crops; Alternative Forages