Sunflowers and high quality forage for livestock.

Sunflowers and using them as high-quality forage for your livestock. A three-year stand of giant gray stripe flowers in a stand of perennial pasture. How it was established without us reseeding. We will look at the forage quality, biodiversity, and soil health in this field.
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#highqualitylivestockforage #covercropsfarminggrazing #growingwarmseasonannualstograze #grazinglivestockfarmsummer

[@lenniewilson5854]

What my husband isn't telling you is that he planted this field originally because I wanted a whole field of sunflowers. They are one of my favorite flowers. This is my favorite field because it is so happy.

[@RussWilson]

Ok my wife has me there. Shes can take credit for the sunflowers on the farm. It was a great decision planting them and is out of the box way of thinking.

[@Stella77_7]

😁

[@davidhickenbottom6574]

It's amazing hope you all are well.

[@allenmeinhold7038]

What a great individual you are, you are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you Sir !

[@RussWilson]

Thank you kindly

[@leoscheibelhut940]

That's some beautiful looking forage!

[@Stella77_7]

Fantastic Video and Information. I am hoping to plant some sunflowers into my system here for my Cows, Goats and my layers. Thanks much for sharing your wisdom.

[@cathymccall9199]

Phenomenal! Thank you for this lesson in soil and animal health & human wellbeing!

[@kevinswalley5644]

Very impressive! 👍

[@RussWilson]

Hi Kevin It is a impressive field. Thanks for watching. Russ

[@buildermakerhomesteader3406]

I appreciate the effort you put into your videos Russ. Thanks. I don't have a seed drill, but I will try feeding some sunflower seeds to my ruminants this coming spring to see if it might work.

[@ezrasiegrist502]

thanks for info russ

[@RussWilson]

Thanks for watching!!

[@dj2000lbs]

That's some happy soil

[@kathymeley9553]

As a researcher I really can’t see you having to seed this field again with sunflowers if you continue what you are doing with the cows. Kathy

[@RussWilson]

I'm hoping that in ten years we can can show that field with sunflowers. We will be managing it for sunflowers. Thanks for Watching Russ 👍

[@trig5454]

Could you please provide a list of the complex pasture mix you planted and some comments on how your mix worked and if you would choose and different plants in the seed mix?

[@RussWilson]

That's good question. We use very diverse mixes when planting permanent pastures. This pasture was established after corn and sunflowers. The sunflowers in this mix are volunteers for the corn. The permanent pasture mix included canarygrass, timothy, orchardgrass, tall fescue, red, alsike, and white clover, chicory, and plains coreopsis. This mix has done every well very productive. I don't think i would change anything. I do change my mixes from field to field. The diversity helps keep the grasses from all coming to maturity at one time.

[@denniskemnitz1381]

@@RussWilson is the permanent pasture perennial or mix of annuals too.

[@RussWilson]

@@denniskemnitz1381 The pasture is perennial grasses and forbs.

[@rochrich1223]

It would be interesting to know if bypass seeding would work consistently. Some oilseed sunflower in a granola glued together with corn syrup or molasses would get cow attention. A sunflower would be an easy result to observe. Big Blue stem grass with its hard seed would be more important, but finding a new plant wouldn't be easy.

[@RussWilson]

Great suggestion!

[@teresavandenhazel1679]

I have a question: is the giant grey stripe the best for cattle grazing? Or are all varieties of Sunflower good for grazing

[@RussWilson]

All annual sunflowers are good for grazing. We plant a lot of peredovik sunflowers because they are really cheap. Thanks for watching!!

[@prdeereman]

Mr Wilson is there a way of communication other than watching videos? In the future i'll have some specific questions that might not get covered in the order that would be current to the project.

[@RussWilson]

If you go to my website www.russwilson.net or email me at [e-mail]. Thanks for watching!!!

[@michaelripperger5674]

Are sunflowers 🌻 good for sheep 🐑?

[@marvinbaier3627]

My wife loves sunflowers. Do you still have all these sunflowers in this field. I might have to do this for her too. How # per acre did you plant for the sunflowers? I know I won’t be able to touch the field with my animals until the sunflowers are about dead too. Did you put any fertilizer on while planting or did you have enough biological creating it’s own growth?

[@RussWilson]

A field full of sunflowers are beautiful. The sunflowers are no longer in that field. We needed the field before they were seeded out one year. They were in that field for three years. If you plant Pereedovic Sunflowers they will flower in about 60 days. They will not get huge like this field they are giant gray stripe sunflowers. you only need and 5-10 lbs of seed to the acre really cheap to plant. No fertilizer required. Great question!!

[@anngully9988]

Do sheep and goats eat the leaves and the flowers?

[@RussWilson]

They eat the leaves and flowers!

[@denniskemnitz1381]

I had a field of approximately 8 foot tall mature sunflowers in NE KS which I rolled at maturity( I think) fall 2021. ......they are a cross of some kind cause seeds are minute and apparently mature cause they have been coming up annually increasing population for approximately 10 years. Never rolled previously. Always grown til maturity in fall...What to plant next for annual bovine grazing and or occassional cash crop??? I haven't consulted KSU, my local land grant agricultural institute. THEY SURE WERE SCENIC at blossum.

[@RussWilson]

Sunflower fields are beautiful. Not many people grow them in the east. Sure make good feed. Thanks for watching!!

[@denniskemnitz1381]

@@RussWilson guess I will plant some seeds in pots soon and see whether this crop will sprout. I doubt they will need specific day lengths possibly just warmth in the window sill. I imagine the sunflower roots "loosened up" the soil a bunch.I guess I will check roots on rolled plants also. I'll place some seeds in damp paper towel in warm spot also. Thank you all for the info. Sunflowers were chopped in our ensilage years ago however I can not remember whether cows ate them (with ensilage). I have been "studying" roots of giant ragweed and lambs quarters mainly around perimeter of my organic cattle corrals. I am very surprised at the variation in size of their root ball compared to those growing in essentially non fertilized fields.

[@giverny28]

I really love growing sunflowers. 2 years ago I started for 2 reasons; to utilize the tap roots for soil improvement & 2, to improve the attitudes of my neighbors. Most people truly enjoy sunflowers. They are just so happy. Every year, people stop and tell me (when they see me in the field) to tell me how much they enjoy driving past every day. With the year we've had... it's really important for me to keep growing sunflowers. However, when I researched sunflowers as a cover/ forage, I read that they will poison the soil after 3 years. Apparently, this untrue. I do not have land dedicated to running cattle, but we do run goats, turkey, meat & laying birds, rabbits, and pigs. Would this mix (sunflower, grasses, clover, etc) be good for the livestock we run? You also mentioned that you reseed after grazing. What do you reseed? Do you till? Any other tips for developing forage pastures would be great.

[@RussWilson]

I've been growing sunflowers in the same spot for many years with no problems. It could be that there are many different species growing. The mix you mentioned would be excellent for your livestock. Sunflowers are a natural wormer for the goats.

[@anngully9988]

Will hair sheep eat the sunflowers? Thank you

[@AnimeDreamingEcchi]

Where can I get some of these seeds ?

[@RussWilson]

Sunflowers? They are nothing special just giant gray stripe. Can get them at most any vegetable seed companies. They are the same seed as the gray stripe sold for bird feed. Thanks for watching!

[@jeremylapointe3452]

I wonder if the native perennial sunflowers would be equal?

[@jeremylapointe3452]

I am planning on using helianthus strumosus for my goat pastures. Where should I get these species tested?

[@RussWilson]

Also, look into the ox eye sunflower. Goats also love cup plant which is really productive. I send my forage samples to Agri king nutrition. Thanks for watching!!

[@RussWilson]

I just videoed that field we planted be watching for that video to come out. Also the video Grazing high tonnage forages was planted with that drill. Thanks for watching!!

[@jeremylapointe3452]

@@RussWilson have you ever tried desmanthus illinoiensis as a native legume for your pastures? Thank you for your response

[@RussWilson]

I have not tried the bundleflower. I've been told it doesn't do well in Pennsylvania. Maybe I should try it just to see. I have bunked a few myths before. LOL

[@chessman483]

If I didn’t graze my sunflowers where yours are at right now, I’d lose all my sunflower seed. The birds , mice and rats just eat my sunflower seeds way before they completely die.

[@danmiller4774]

Russ when you're doing it a video could you please step it up and speak a little faster.. Otherwise I lose interest and I don't want to I want to hear what you have to say. I would also like you to talk more about the summer grasses as the bush grass for a sod grass. I would hate to put in summer grasses and not be able to cut it because it's like a pocket gopher Mound. And I want to plant anything that has a big Mound on it or I should say a crown that is that big

[@RussWilson]

Hey Dan, You can speed up the videos. Below the you will see a gear tap on it and tap on playback speed. I have some other subscribers that speed the videos up. I will do some videos on summer grasses. Thanks for watching!

[@jdalley5192]

When ever I grow sunflowers or corn the birds get all of the grain before grazing.

[@ppac300]

Sunflowers are invasive and is a huge problem in the tropics

[@RussWilson]

Annual sunflowers? That's interesting never would have thought about the sunflower as being invasive. Be in the right environment I think most anything could be invasive. Thanks for watching.

[@kolapyellow7631]

i wish i am a farmer. born into a farmer's family but never had a chance to farm. displace by war as a child.

[@humbllbug]

Jesus loves you

[@darrylsimms2424]

stop turning the camera non stop. Got a lot to work on mate.

[@mjamesh1234]

Yes. Or at least keep talking while showing the field

[@cyninshadows7041]

The man