204 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



the grain sorghums are often harvested with a grain header, and stock 

 grazed on the standing stalks. 



The sorghos with their juicy stalks rich in sugar are grown chiefly 

 for forage. Early varieties, such as Amher cane, ripen earlier than 

 kafir or milo and may be grown wherever corn will mature. Zavitz of 

 the Ontario Agricultural College 18 reports an average plot yield of 16.3 

 tons per acre from 3 varieties of sorgho tested for 15 years. Snyder of 

 the North Platte, Nebraska, Sub-Station 19 regards sorgho as the best 

 forage plant for the more arid sections of the plains district, where 

 alfalfa can not be grown, being fully equal to good prairie hay in 

 feeding value. Early sorghos have proved the best forage crops on dry 

 farms in northwestern Texas and in Arizona, as they evade drought 

 better than late maturing types. Where rainfall is more abundant the 

 later varieties give a larger yield of forage. The palatable leaves, sweet 

 stalks and freedom from dust make sorgho forage a desirable roughage 

 for stock, especially horses. (499, 771, 861) 



309. The sorghums for grazing, soilage, and silage. Especially in the 

 southern states, the sorghums, mainly the sorghos, are widely used as 

 summer pasture for horses, cattle, and swine, as they are available at a 

 time when other crops are exhausted or immature. Owing to the 

 danger from prussic acid poisoning, extreme care must be taken in pas- 

 turing second growth or stunted sorghum. (395) By feeding the green 

 crop as soilage it is the more completely utilized. Tho sorghum may be 

 cut at any time after it reaches a height of 2 to 3 feet, a greater yield of 

 nutrients will be secured when it is allowed to head. The early varieties 

 of sorghos are admirable soiling crops for the northern states. (421) 



The sorghums formerly had the reputation of producing much sourer 

 silage than corn. Numerous experiments have now shown, however, that 

 when sufficiently matured, both the sorghos and the grain sorghums 

 make excellent silage. Reed reports from 2-year trials at the Kansas Sta- 

 tion 20 that silage from kafir or sorgho, ensiled when the seeds were hard, 

 contained less acid than corn silage and was practically equal to corn 

 silage in feeding value for dairy cows. (633) He states that the best way 

 to determine when cane or kafir is ready to ensile is to twist the stalk with 

 the hands. When it is so mature that just a very little juice will run 

 out the proper stage has been reached. As with corn, it is preferable to 

 let the crop of cane or kafir stand till after frost rather than ensile it 

 too green. (299) 



For beef cattle kafir and sorgho silage have also proved to have practi- 

 cally the same value as corn silage in trials covering several years at 

 the Kansas Station, carried on by Cochel 21 and later by McCampbell and 

 Bell. 22 (782) Over a 3-year period the sorghums yielded 35 per ct. 



"Ont. Agr. College, Rpt. 1913. "Nebr. Bui. 135. 



"Kan. Cir. 28; and information to the authors. 

 ^Kan. Bui. 198; Kansas Industrialist, Apr. 18, 1914, May 1, 1915. 

 ^Rpt. of Progress of Beef Cattle Experiments, Hays, Kansas, Branch Station, 

 1919-20. 



