He planted the Speedfeed 2 crop in a 7-hectare paddock for the first time this year, to feed his livestock.

"I normally just grow oaten hay to feed the cattle and sheep," he said.

"I got very good yields from the oaten hay this year, it went 6.6 tonne a hectare, but it's not quite enough to carry us through. "I decided to put the forage sorghum in to increase my feed supply, so that I don't have to buy anything in."

To prepare the paddock for the forage sorghum crop, Dan put out fertiliser on September 22.

"I used a combination of super and urea to try and maintain the equivalent of DAP," he said.

"I put it out at 127kg/ha, which cost $127/ha."

The soil was disc cultivated initially, and then Dan went over the paddock with a combine, so the fertiliser was applied to a fine tilth bed.

The sorghum was then sowed on October 10, at a rate of 11.5kg/ha.

Dan, from Hillier, said he is pleased with the way the forage sorghum was progressing.

* Extract from a full report in Stock Journal, November 20 issue.