Kim Anderson of Sanger, Calif., California State University, Fresno senior and horse owner, and Bruce Roberts, agronomy professor at the university, examine Teff, an annual grass popular with horse owners that was grown for the first time on the school’s farm.
Jack Griffin of Los Banos, Calif., regional sales manager for Producer’s Choice Seed, sold Kim Anderson Teff for planting in her horse pasture where she boards 18 head of rescue horses. Her horses are thriving on Teff, and prefer it to Bermudagrass pasture.
High fiber Teff is a wispy, annual grass that is quick growing in the summer. It is being evaluated as a summer forage crop following wheat, or corn in the San Joaquin Valley.
CSUF agronomy professor Bruce Roberts says Teff can yield 1.5 to more than 2 tons per acre with low water requirements. It was grown this season for the first time under center pivot at CSUF.
On hand to check out the final cutting of Teff at CSUF are, from left: CSUF professor Bruce Roberts; student and horse owner Kim Anderson of Sanger, Calif.; Producers Choice Seed/Cal West Seeds Field Representative Geremy DeRuiter of Woodland; and Ganesan Srinivasan, director of the CSUF Agricultural Laboratory.
