Milo feed is grain sorghum used as an energy source in livestock diets. It’s one of the most common feed grains in the world, serving as a cost-effective alternative to corn for cattle, pigs, and poultry. The grain comes from the sorghum plant (Sorghum bicolor), and “milo” is simply the traditional name for the grain-type varieties originally bred in East Africa. If you’ve seen it at a feed store or in a ration sheet, it’s the same thing as grain sorghum.
What Milo Looks Like and Where It Grows
Milo sorghums produce compact, oval-shaped seed heads with large seeds that range from pale pink to cream in color. The plants have wavy leaf blades with a distinctive yellow midrib. Compared to other sorghum types, milo varieties are notably tolerant of heat and drought, which is why they’re a staple crop across the southern Great Plains, parts of Africa, and other arid or semi-arid regions. In the U.S., Texas and Kansas are the heaviest production areas.
The plant’s drought resistance is a major reason farmers choose it. Sorghum uses water more efficiently than corn, making it a practical option in areas where rainfall is unreliable or irrigation is expensive. After the grain is harvested, the stalks can also be grazed by cattle, since some varieties stay green for an extended period. The whole plant can be cut for silage or hay as well, giving producers flexibility in how they use the crop.
Nutritional Value Compared to Corn
Milo is primarily an energy feed. Its nutritive value is comparable to corn, though not quite identical. The general rule of thumb used by nutritionists and extension services is that milo is worth about 90% the feeding value of corn on a pound-for-pound basis. Research from Oklahoma State University found that when dry-rolled, the net energy for gain from milo was only 80% that of dry corn. However, when processed as high-moisture grain, milo reached 98 to 99% of corn’s energy value.
That gap between 80% and 99% comes down to how the grain is processed, which matters a great deal with milo. The starch in sorghum grain is less digestible in its raw, dry form than corn starch, particularly for ruminants. Processing methods that break open the starch granules (more on that below) close much of the energy gap.
How Processing Affects Digestibility
The single biggest factor determining how well milo performs in a feeding program is how the grain is processed before it reaches the animal. Dry-rolling or coarsely grinding milo leaves a significant portion of the starch unavailable, especially in cattle. Steam-flaking, which uses moisture and heat to gelatinize the starch before the grain is rolled flat, dramatically improves digestibility. High-moisture harvesting and storage achieves a similar effect through fermentation.
For cattle operations in the southern Plains, steam-flaked milo is the standard. It brings the grain’s feeding value close to that of steam-flaked corn and eliminates most of the energy discount. If you’re buying milo for cattle and only have the option to dry-roll it, pricing it at around 80 to 90% of corn’s value is reasonable. If you can steam-flake it, you can price it much closer to corn.
Milo in Cattle Diets
Grain sorghum is palatable to cattle and has a long track record as a feedlot staple. Stocker calves supplemented with sorghum grain show higher daily weight gains compared to unsupplemented calves on pasture. In feedlot finishing rations, milo commonly makes up the bulk of the grain portion, with soybean meal, vitamins, and minerals rounding out the diet.
One practical advantage for cattle producers is that milo’s slightly slower rate of starch digestion can reduce the risk of acidosis, a common metabolic problem in grain-fed cattle. This can make it a more forgiving grain to work with, especially in operations that don’t have precise bunk management. That said, properly processed milo digests rapidly enough that acidosis management still matters in high-concentrate finishing diets.
Milo for Pigs and Poultry
Milo works well as the primary grain in both swine and poultry rations, with one important caveat: tannin content. High-tannin sorghum varieties contain compounds that reduce protein digestibility and make the feed taste bitter. Low-tannin varieties, which now dominate commercial production, avoid this problem almost entirely.
For pigs, low-tannin sorghum can make up 60% of the diet for weaned piglets (9 to 25 kg body weight) and up to 75% for growing and finishing pigs, provided the ration includes adequate soybean meal, vitamins, and minerals. Experimental rations have pushed milo inclusion as high as 74 to 75% in finishing swine with good results. For broiler chickens, low-tannin sorghum can serve as the main or only grain, with inclusion rates up to 70% when balanced with soybean meal and a vitamin-mineral premix.
One thing poultry producers notice with sorghum-based diets is that egg yolks and skin pigmentation may be lighter than with corn-based feeds. Corn contains yellow pigments (carotenoids) that sorghum lacks. This is a cosmetic issue, not a nutritional one, but it matters in markets where consumers expect deep yellow yolks.
Current Production and Pricing
U.S. sorghum production for the 2025/26 marketing year hit 437 million bushels, up 27% from the previous year. That increased supply has pushed prices down. The season-average farm price sits at $3.70 per bushel, the lowest since 2019/20. Cash prices at Texas country elevators in January 2026 ranged from $3.06 per bushel in the North Panhandle to $3.91 in the Central Panhandle.
The U.S. exports roughly 225 million bushels of sorghum annually, with China historically being the largest buyer. Lower prices make milo especially attractive for domestic livestock feeders looking to cut ration costs. When sorghum trades at a meaningful discount to corn on an energy-adjusted basis, switching part or all of a ration’s grain component to milo can save real money, particularly for large feedlot operations buying grain by the truckload.
When Milo Makes Sense
Milo feed is most cost-effective when three conditions align: you’re in a region where sorghum is grown locally (keeping transportation costs low), you have access to proper processing equipment or can buy pre-processed grain, and sorghum is trading at a discount to corn. In the southern Great Plains, all three conditions are often met, which is why milo has been a feedlot mainstay there for decades.
For smaller operations or hobby farms, milo is also widely available as whole grain from feed stores and is a popular choice for supplementing cattle on pasture, feeding backyard poultry flocks, and as wildlife feed for deer and game birds. The grain stores well when kept dry, and its smaller kernel size compared to corn means most livestock can handle it without processing, though cattle will get more nutritional value from cracked or rolled grain than from whole kernels.