The farm experimented with planting warm season forage and grasses this year. We don’t have irrigation for the pastures and wanted to see if we could grow forage for the dry summer months rather than having to feed hay. We planted sunhemp, sorghum sudan grass and cowpea using a no till drill. It took in some places, growing to over five feet tall, and in others it was outcompeted by annual ryegrass. Its all good, we are learning.

Part of the reason we did these particular plantings is because these plants are taproot plants, meaning the root systems grow fast and DEEP. This helps break up the hard pan soil surface left over after years of tillage. We are wondering if when we go to plant perennials in the fall if they will take better where we planted these late summer forages. We shall see. In the meantime the bison are quite satisfied.