110 



DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING STUFFS 



Serious trouble, and even death, has at times resulted from cattle- 

 or horses eating young shoots of the sorghum, family, especially 

 second-growth sorghum. This generally occurs after periods of 

 frost or extreme drought, when the plants have been stunted in 

 their growth and afterwards begin to grow. It is due to the forma- 

 tion of a glucoside in the new shoots which sets free prussic acid 

 through the action of a ferment. Accidents usually have happened 

 when pastures are short and cattle get into a field of young sorghum, 



FIG. 14. A field of dwarf black-hull kafir corn, a good grain-sorghum for western States. 



(Ball.) 



eating considerable of it on empty stomachs. They should, there- 

 fore, be given some dry feed before being let into fields of such 

 sorghum ; since no trouble will occur when second-growth sorghum 

 is made into hay or silage, the safer method in case of doubt is to 

 use it for one or the other of these purposes. 5 



The non-saccharine sorghums, so-called grain sorghums, kafir 

 corn, milo maize, and durra, are largely grown for the sake of the 

 grain in western States; they are also occasionally used as green 

 and dry forage, as well as for silage, for cattle, horses, and sheep. 



6 Neb. Bui. 77; Okla. Cir. 38. Discussions of the Sorghums are given 

 in Farmers' Bui. 50, 246, 458, 724. See Jr. Agr. Res, 4, p. 179; 6, p. 261 

 and 331 ; 10, p. 45, and 13, p. 579, 



