Why milo?

Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette

In September 2007, then retired producer/elevator operator Wayne Allen of rural McCook said that drought resistance is the biggest reason producers on the Golden Plains grow milo, a native South African grass first introduced in the United States in the late nineteenth century. Milo requires less water to grow than corn does, Allen said, but produces as much starch. "Starch is the basic ingredient of cattle feed," Allen said. "And milo is high in starch." Milo is also used to produce ethanol, he said, and in the production of medical-grade alcohol. Milo harvest begins about the same time as corn harvest, Allen said, but has one drawback -- "Milo dust gets everywhere," he said. "On your clothes ... down your neck. And it itches, and itches, and itches." Allen died in early 2008.