SELECTING ANIMALS AND METHODS OF FEEDING 287 



Rape can be pastured by cows, but it may taint the milk and 

 is also likely to produce bloat. Cow-peas and soy-beans are 

 pastured to the best advantage with hogs. Standing corn can 

 be pastured with sheep and hogs. The sheep will eat mainly 

 the leaves, while the hogs will feed mostly on the ears. " Hog- 

 ging off" corn is very frequently done in the corn-belt, and in 

 dry autumns it is a satisfactory way of harvesting the corn 

 crop. It is not advisable to pasture the same piece of ground 

 at the same time with both sheep and hogs, because sheep do 

 not like to feed where hogs have mussed over the stalks. It 

 is also a common practice in the corn-belt, where not much 

 corn is cut and put in shock or silo, to pasture the standing 

 stalks, after the corn has been gathered, with all classes of 

 farm animals, especially the young animals. This is a waste- 

 ful practice, because much of the feeding value has already 

 been lost by the leaves blowing away. Furthermore, most of 

 the soluble part has been washed out by rains. This practice 

 frequently is false economy on account of the harmful effect 

 of trampling the soil when wet. 



(6) Soiling. — This is cutting the plants green and feeding 

 them at once in the stalls or yards. This method of feeding 

 requires a great deal of labor, but is economical in that a 

 large number of animals can be kept on fewer acres. Pastur- 

 ing always requires a large area of land, while soiling does 

 not. Soiling is practised mostly by dairymen, but it should 

 be used more than it is by all farmers who keep animals, 

 especially in the warm, dry summer months when pastures 

 are short and flies are bad. Some grain may be fed to ad- 

 vantage in connection with the green plants. The various 

 crops used for soiling have been discussed under Soiling 

 Crops. 



