Okay, I've been trying to source a small amount of switchgrass hay for a project we are doing here at Southwest Research Institute. Does anybody here have any switchgrass hay or know of a source for it? We need a very small amount for this research project.

I've never seen switchgrass hay, but the US Corps of Engineers have a large plot of switchgrass on their property at Lake Granger. Since they burn it from time to time, they may let your cut some for your project.

Thanks ComfortAg, I'll check into that if we don't find some.

I heard a lot about switch grass in regards to cellulosic ethanol, but that's about it. Does it go by any other names--Timothy, brohm, etc or is it only a wild prairie grass that is not planted for hay/feed?

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I heard a lot about switch grass in regards to cellulosic ethanol, but that's about it. Does it go by any other names--Timothy, brohm, etc or is it only a wild prairie grass that is not planted for hay/feed?

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Nope. Switchgrass is switchgrass. It will likely be tough to find. It is a bugger to use for hay because if its "clumpy" nature. One of the finest native grasses out there - and most productive in the hands of a knowledgeable manager.

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I heard a lot about switch grass in regards to cellulosic ethanol, but that's about it. Does it go by any other names--Timothy, brohm, etc or is it only a wild prairie grass that is not planted for hay/feed?

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Nope. Switchgrass is switchgrass. It will likely be tough to find. It is a bugger to use for hay because if its "clumpy" nature. One of the finest native grasses out there - and most productive in the hands of a knowledgeable manager.

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B-1 you are right. It is very hard to find right now. I don't know what we are researching for. I did find some with Dr. Muir with Stephenville Texas Agrilife Extension Office. He said it was exactly what we need. However, it's still in the field. It was last years growth and has been frosted. I expect our customer is some bioenergy company.

Native American Seed in Junction has it on their interwebs page.

http://www.seedsource.com/catalog/search_resultsB.asp?txtsearchParamTxt=switchgrass&txtsearchParamCat=ALL&btnSearch.x=0&btnSearch.y=0&txtsearchParamType=ALL&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch

Thanks SA Ag. That is the first seed company that actually has something other than seed. Since they sell switchgrass roots, they have to do something with the grass. I can only hope they make hay with it. I've sent them an email.

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Native American Seed in Junction has it on their interwebs page.

http://www.seedsource.com/catalog/search_resultsB.asp?txtsearchParamTxt=switchgrass&txtsearchParamCat=ALL&btnSearch.x=0&btnSearch.y=0&txtsearchParamType=ALL&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch

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The seed is not hard to find, it's a pure stand managed for hay that is difficult. The 'Alamo' cultivar is the best and is adapted from about Abilene south to Corpus. The 'Blackwell' cultivar works well north of that, and to the south your are screwed until South Texas Natives perfects their cultivar.

WATCH THE CULTIVAR and origin of those original seed and roots!

How much do you need?

Only need 5-10 pounds but will buy what ever we have to. If you have some, my email address is sevans @ swri dot org. Leave out the spaces.

I have a long shot for you. Douglass W King Seed Co on the east side of San Antonio sells a Switchgrass seed.

Since you only need 5 to 10 pounds, maybe they could put you in touch with one of their customers who bought that seed last year.

I have Kleingrass hay, which is a Panicum like Switchgrass. But it sounds to me like you have a client doing a biological fuel research specifically on Switchgrass.

Thanks Allen76, I'll check with Douglass W King Seed Co. I've checked with several other seed companies and no luck so far. But persistence is bound to pay off sometime.

I want to thank everyone who gave me useful information. We were able to find the switchgrass through our research partner University of Texas San Antonio.

I got permission to post what we are researching. We are using the switchgrass as a biomass feedstock to test a technology that we have requested a patent for. We are trying to turn the biomass into biofuels in a single step. Presently, biomass to biofuels technologies require several downstream processing steps to get to a specification grade blendstock. Additionally, the experimental data will be fed into a supply chain model to predict costs, revenue and best locations for biofuel processing plants.

Here's a link to the press release. I might need some help with this. (http://www.swri.org/9what/releases/2015/utsa-connect.htm If any of you are members of the American Society of Chemical Engineers, Ms. Madrano will be doing a presation for the 2016 AIChE spring conference which will have their preliminary data.

Edited to hopefully fix link.