158 DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING STUFFS 



readily fermentable sugars. Cut at harvest time, it will make a good 

 quality of silage, or nearly similar feeding value and palatability to 

 Indian corn silage. 



The Grain Sorghums (Egyptian corn, kafir, milo maize, feter- 

 ita, etc.) are used for silage to a limited extent in the Western 

 States. They make a good silage if cut when the seed is ripe ; this is 

 not relished quite as well as corn silage, and is eaten in smaller 

 amounts than this, e.g., by dairy cows 20 to 25 pounds per head daily 

 as a maximum feed. The Kansas station found that kafir silage 

 ranks second to Indian corn silage as a feed for dairy cows, and that 

 it is better than sorghum silage for the production of milk. 8 



In dry, hot sections, where the grain sorghums give relatively 

 large yields and where Indian corn cannot be successfully grown, 

 these crops will doubtless 'assume great importance in the future 

 as silage crops on dairy and other stock farms. 



Alfalfa is used only to a limited extent as a silage crop. There 

 is ordinarily no difficulty in making it into good hay in the western 

 States where this crop grows to best advantage and is of the greatest 

 economic importance. It is, however, made into silage by many 

 farmers ; if run through a cutter and siloed after it has been al- 

 lowed to wilt somewhat, and carefully tramped down in the silo, it 

 will make good aromatic silage that is palatable to dairy cows, steers, 

 sheep and other farm animals after they have become accustomed 

 to it. Like all silage made from legumes, it has sometimes a stronger 

 and less agreeable flavor than corn silage, owing to the butyric acid 

 formed therein, but stock soon learn to like it. It has not been 

 shown, however, that alfalfa silage has a higher feeding value than 

 corn silage, ton for ton, although it is considerably richer in protein 

 and contains somewhat more dry matter per ton than corn silage. 



In California and other western States where foxtail is often 

 a serious pest in alfalfa fields during the early part of the season, 

 the first crop is often siloed, and the foxtail thus rendered 

 harmless; the beards remain soft in the silage and do not 

 cause trouble to farm animals eating it, as is generally the case 

 when this crop is made into hay, especially if cut rather late, after 

 the foxtail heads are nearly ripe. Silage from such weedy alfalfa 

 will be of good quality if put up in accordance with the directions 

 given, and is often better than that from pure alfalfa. The last 

 crop of alfalfa is also frequently siloed in the region mentioned, 

 owing to the rainy weather that is likely to prevail at this time, 

 rendering it difficult to make this crop into hay. 8a 



8 Circular 28. 8 aNeb. Press Bulletin 46. 



