This dataset consists of agronomic calendars for 15 seasons of sorghum [*Sorghum bicolor* (L.)] grown for grain or forage at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU), Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL) in 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1997 through 1999, 2003 through 2007, 2014, and 2015. Depending on experimental objectives, sorghum was grown on one, two, or four large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field. In 2002, 2010, and 2012, cotton was grown on two large, precision weighing lysimeters and their surrounding 4.44 ha square fields. In 2003 and 2004, sorghum was grown on only one large weighing lysimeter in rotation with cotton. The entire datasets for individual season years consist of soil water content, weather, crop growth and yield, agronomic calendar, water balance (evapotranspiration, precipitation, dew/frost, irrigation), and lysimeter energy and water balance data.

This is digital research data corresponding to a published manuscript, Cover cropping history affects cotton boll distribution, lint yields, and fiber quality, in Crop Science, Vol. 63 p. 1209–1220.