SUSTAINABILITY 98 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE August 2025 easier for animals to digest. Its improved digestibility has several advantages, and while older sorghum varieties that contained tannins reduced nutrient absorption in animals, today’s tannin-free sorghum has eliminated that issue completely. This improved digestibility means that more nutrients are absorbed which results in faster growth and healthier livestock. This is particularly important in monogastric animals like pigs and poultry, which have simpler digestive systems. SORGHUM SILAGE: ANOTHER WAY TO FEED Beyond grain, sorghum can also be grown and harvested as silage, offering a highly digestible and nutrient-rich feed option. When harvested at the soft dough stage, sorghum silage retains a lot of energy and ferments well, which enhances both its shelf life and nutritional profile. There are certain sorghum varieties, like brown midrib (BMR) hybrids, that have lower lignin content, making them easier for cows to digest. These hybrids have been developed specifically for forage use and offer a great alternative to corn silage, particularly in dry regions or during drought years. Sorghum silage also stores well, giving dairy farmers a stable, year-round feed source, which is a major advantage in areas with unpredictable weather or short growing seasons. RESOURCE-EFFICIENT CROP FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE Probably one of the biggest advantages of using sorghum in livestock feed is its ability to grow with fewer resources. Sorghum is a drought-tolerant crop and needs significantly less water than other traditional grains. In arid and semi-arid regions, this makes a huge difference. Sorghum also does not require many chemical inputs, such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. In turn, this lowers production costs for farmers and reduces the environmental impact of growing feed crops. SORGHUM SUPPORTS CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE Feeding livestock with sorghum doesn’t just make sense on the farm, it also helps combat climate change. One such major environmental concern when it comes to animal agriculture is methane emissions. These emissions are mainly produced by ruminants like cattle and sheep. Fortunately, high-digestibility feeds like modern sorghum can help lower these emissions, and when animals digest feed more efficiently, they produce less methane per unit of weight gain. Photo: Courtesy of Sorghum United
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