FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 10, 2025) 鈥� When heat turns bluegrass brown, 91传媒
goes where the grass is growing. Recently, a 91传媒 team traveled to Headland,
Ala., worked with Auburn University鈥檚 Wiregrass Research and Extension Center to cut
and bale summer annual hay, and hauled the fresh harvest back for the year ahead.
The hay now sits at 91传媒鈥檚 Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm,
where it will support an applied feeding study and supplement University herds. The
study will look deeper into utilizing conserved summer annual forages as a high-quality
feed source for cattle. In addition to strong nutritive quality, these forages can
be especially valuable during winter feeding, when fescue growth is low and supplemental
feed is costly.
Annual forages harvested for this study include Mojo crabgrass, Tifleaf 3 hybrid pearl
millet, and Sweet Six BMR sorghum-sudangrass from Caudill Seed, as well as a novel
variety known as prussic acid-free sorghum-sudangrass (SP4409 PF) from S&W Seed. Early
field observations suggest strong yield potential and adequate quality for late-gestation
diets, though more formal results will follow as part of the Benson Farm trial.
Producers across Kentucky and the Southeast know the 鈥渟ummer slump,鈥� when cool-season
pastures slow down and animal performance can slip. 鈥淲arm-season annuals can bridge
that gap,鈥� said Dr. Abbigail Hines, assistant professor of animal science. 鈥淲e鈥檙e
focused on solutions that are productive, farm-ready, and safe.鈥�
Based in Hines鈥� Livestock x Forage Nutrition Research Lab, this applied work is part
of the multi-institutional initiative 鈥淓nhancing Marginalized Ruminant Production
Systems through Annual Cover Crop Forages in the Southeastern U.S.鈥� with Auburn University,
S&W Seed, and Caudill Seed. It advances the land-grant mission to deliver practical
tools for producers.
Because some summer annual crops, like sorghum-based varieties, can develop natural
toxic compounds after drought or plant stress, continuous grazing can be risky. Practical
steps like routine forage testing and turning cattle in at the right growth stage
are important. Evaluating novel forages, such as the prussic acid-free sorghum-sudangrass
option, can reduce those concerns and offer a safer, high-quality, high-yielding forage
for livestock producers.
Collaboration was key from the start.
For 91传媒, William Rogers handled the haul and logistics, and Michael Wilson,
beef herd manager, prepared fields and set the pilot grazing. Deborah Lancaster, executive
assistant to the dean in the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources
and an equine expert, also evaluated the hay for horse use. Student researchers working
alongside faculty include undergraduate Jacob Wells, and graduate students Rosemary
Ewetade, Ibukunoluwa Salako, and Elizabeth Workman.
Partners from Auburn include Dr. W. Brandon Smith, assistant professor of ruminant
nutrition and forage systems, along with the Wiregrass Research and Extension Center
farm staff, who assisted with plot planning and management, harvest timing, and load-out,
helping keep the work moving smoothly start to finish.
