Foxtail millet - Management for Supplemental and Emergency Forage
David W. Koch, Extension Agronomy Specialist, University of WyomingBecause of the frequent occurrence of drought, early farmers and ranchers relied
heavily on millets for livestock feed. There are a number of millet species; however, the
foxtail types (Setaria italica), which include Siberian, Hungarian and German are most
important for forage in Wyoming. In warmer climates pearl millet (Pennisetum
americanum) is important. Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) is grown for grain.
Adaptation. Foxtail millets grow rapidly during warm weather and are one of the most
water use efficient crops. They produce a ton of forage on as little as 2 ½ inches of
moisture, making them one of the most dependable crops under semi-arid conditions.
Recognition of these characteristics has led to an increased acreage of this crop in
Wyoming in recent years. Many producers grow millet each year as a type of insurance.
The millets have some limitations. Other crops have greater yielding capacity under
irrigation. The foxtail millets have very limited regrowth capacity, limiting them to one
cutting or one grazing. Also, millet hay is not suited for horses because of the diuretic
effect.
Situations in which forage millet may have an economic value are: (1) where drought
has reduced growth of perennial native and introduced forages; (2) where fall planted
small grains have been lost to winterkill or to hail; (3) where an annual crop is needed to
rotate with winter wheat in order to clean up winter annual weeds, such as downy brome;
and (4) where there is need of winter cover. Millet is drilled and the stubble following
hay harvest or grazing provides excellent winter soil cover and a very desirable situation
for stubble seeding of the following crop. Foxtail millet can be seeded as late as mid-July
and produce a forage crop. This makes millet an excellent catch crop (crop grown
following failure of the main crop). Millets require a soil temperature of 600F or higher
for rapid emergence. They generally are not planted until the first of June. This allows
time for one or more cultivations to control weeds prior to planting.
Forage production. In 1992, following a very dry period from 1991 through May 1992
and the prospect of severe forage shortages, 54 acres of millet was planted on 8 different
fields over a variety of conditions at the Archer Research and Extension Center in 1992
(Table 1). Seedbeds varied from conventional to no-till into stubble and killed sod. Due
to the dry conditions, no fertilizer was applied. Millet was drilled 1-inch deep at 13
lb/acre with a double disk drill and 7-inch row spacing. Field 8 was used as a fallow
comparison. All other fields had been used to grow a crop in 1991. German millet seed
was not available. In subsequent years, German millet has produced yields equivalent to
or better than Siberian and Hungarian millets. On July 5, Fields 1-5 were sprayed with
2,4-D at 0.38 lb a.i./acre to control broadleaf weeds.
Seeded into a fallow field, Hungarian and Siberian millet yielded about 650 lb/acre
more forage than the same varieties grown on fields with a crop the previous year.
Conventional seedbed preparation out-yielded no-till seeding 2695 to 979 lb/acre.
Hungarian and Siberian millet yields, averaged over all fields, were similar. Pearl millet
yielded less than either Siberian or Hungarian on the one field in which they were
compared. Yields would likely have been higher had nitrogen fertilizer been applied,
since 3.6 inches of rainfall was received following seeding in late June and July. The
difference in fallow and non-fallowed yields could have been due to differences in
nitrogen. One of the benefits of fallow is the mineralization of nitrogen during the year
without crop. Foxtail millets are warm weather crops and likely suffered some yield loss
due to the cool 1992 season. Average temperatures for June, July and August were 1.2,
4.3, and 3.00F below normal. The elevation at the site is 6000 feet. At lower elevations in
the state yields as high as 3 ½ tons/acre have been reported.
Over the last 10 years, foxtail millet seeded at Archer R&E has averaged 2 ½
tons/acre (1.5-3 tons/acre) with 40 to 50 lb/acre of N and 2 tons/acre (1 to 2 ½ tons/acre)
without N fertilizer.
Ewe lambs grazed the millet in 1992. Despite limited utilization once millet had
headed (60% use), lambs gained 0.40 lb/day and 130 lb/acre. Compared with grazed
forage, millet hay has been observed to be more palatable and much better utilized.
Recent work with foxtail millet shows that it is a good species for swathing,
windrowing and leaving in the field until fall/winter grazing. Forage quality of windrows
in November and December is similar to that of baled hay; however, cost is much lower
because the operations of baling, hauling, stacking and feeding are eliminated. For the
windrow grazing alternative, there is a small cost to fencing and grazing and provisions
for water need to be met. Millet left standing, on the other hand, deteriorates badly in
forage quality and becomes unpalatable. Crude protein content of baled hay and
windrows averaged between 10 and 11%, while standing millet declined to about 8%.
Also, animals with access to windrowed forage did not grazing adjacent standing millet.
A report on this study appears in the 2001 Univ. of Wyoming Agric. Exp. Sta. Progress
Report, pp. 126-128.
Table 1. Previous crop, field preparation, seeding method and varieties of foxtail millet seeded at Archer R&E in 1992.
| Field no. | Planting date | Previous crop | Field preparation and seeding method | Hay Variety1 | yield, 12% lb/acre |
| Non-fallowed | |||||
| 1 | 6-11 | Triticale | chiseled, rod-weeded,harrowed | H,S | 3444 |
| 2 | 6-17 | Native grass | sprayed with glyphosate,no-till seeded | S | 925 |
| 3 | 6-18 | Sudangrass | chiseled, disked, harrowed | S | 2331 |
| H | 2872 | ||||
| 4 | 6-18 | Millet | chiseled, disked, harrowed | S | 2260 |
| 5 | 6-11 | Barley hay | glyphosate, followed by stubble planting | H | 1032 |
| 6 | 6-24 | Winter wheat Sudangrass | chiseled, disked,harrowed | S | 2412 |
| 7 | 6-13 | Winter barley | chiseled, harrowed (winterkilled) | H | 2412 |
| Fallowed | |||||
| 8 | 6-22 | Fallow | chiseled | H | 3292 |
| S | 3407 | ||||
| P | 2502 | ||||
1H=Hungarian; S=Siberian; P=Hybrid Pearl Millet.
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