EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



255 



FEEDING BEET TOl'S AND LEAVES 



Beet tops and leaves furnish excellent feed for livestock. When left 

 on the ground they may be profitably pastured with cattle or sheep. 

 Care should be taken to turn the animals on beet tops for only short 

 intervals, covering a period of several days, until they are accustomed 

 to the feed. Too much beet tops and leaves, especially when somewhat 

 frozen, may cause dairy stock or fattening cattle to scour, though if fed 

 judiciously, a large part of the ration can be made up of tops and leaves 

 with excellent results. 



Wagon loads of beets are dumped at weighing stations by mechanical unloaders, which 



handle a load in from three to five minutes. 



A better method of using tops and leaves is to ensile them, since the 

 tramping of the livestock and the pasturing on the field will cause a loss 

 of one-half or more of the feed and may, in wet seasons, puddle the 

 land. Shallow, well drained pits are dug to a depth of two or three 

 feet; a foot of straw is placed in bottom and then a foot of tops and 

 leaves thrown in, then straw and tops repeated alternately; the whole 

 is then covered with a foot or more of straw and enough dirt to keep the 

 pile from freezing. By building up with alternate layers of tops and 

 straw, a foot in thickness, the tops keep bettep- and a better quality of 

 feed is secured. One-third of the ration fed to dairy stock or one-half of 

 the ration fed to fattening steers may be made up of beet tops and crowns 

 with good results. Beet tops when properly fed are an excellent feed 

 to stimulate the milk production of the dairy cow. 



