SUMMER SELECT
Summer Select® by DLF is a special series dedicated to summer annuals within the Forage First® by DLF portfolio. It features a wide range of high-performance products for farmers looking to mix warm season crops like sorghum into forage rotations and silage systems. Interest in summer annuals continues to increase as international demand for water-efficient and drought tolerant crops intensifies. Summer Select® offers many excellent forage options for geographies that have reduced rainfall or drought conditions. The Summer Select® lineup also emphasizes digestibility, disease and pest resistance, standability, leaf-to-stem ratio and other high value traits to improve forage production. The versatility of these products extends beyond traditional forage use, encompassing applications such as hay production, green chop, silage, and pasture.
Summer Select® Species
The different Summer Select® crops offer distinct advantages for producers.
Sudangrass:
A multi-cut summer annual that has thinner stalks and the highest tillering of the summer annuals.
Sorghum x Sudan:
A multi-cut summer annual that is a cross between forage sorghum and sudangrass. This product tends to have a higher yield potential than sudangrass, but needs to be harvested at a higher cutting point to encourage faster regrowth.
Forage Sorghum:
A single-cut summer annual (similar to corn silage) that takes less moisture to produce similar amounts of forage, which makes it a preferred option for dryland areas in the plains and mountain west.
Pearl Millet:
A multi-cut summer annual with a high leaf-stem ratio due to shorter stature and high tillering. Its quality potential is higher than sorghum-related species, but its yield potential is lower. This product offers flexibility between grazing, dry hay, and silage, with no prussic acid concerns like sorghums or sorghum hybrids.
Teffgrass:
A multi-cut summer annual, ideally harvested for dry hay. Grazing is not recommended due to its shallower root system. This product’s quality is similar to timothy grass, but its yield potential is lower than other summer annuals.
