212 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



318. The small grains for forage. Oats, barley, wheat, rye, and emmer 

 may all be successfully used for the production of hay, soilage, and 

 pasturage. In 1919 over 5,715,000 acres of small grains were cut for hay 

 in this country, nearly two-thirds the acreage devoted to alfalfa, and 

 more than that of red clover grown alone. 14 Over half the area is in the 

 Pacific coast states, wheat and barley being grown in Washington and 

 chiefly barley in California. More than 40 per ct. of all the hay grown 

 in the southeastern coast states, from North Carolina to Louisiana, is 

 from the small grains. When intended for hay, the cereal grasses should 

 be cut while the grains are in the early milk stage, at which time the 

 stems and leaves may be cured into a bright, dust-free hay of good 

 quality. Bearded wheat, barley, and rye should be cut before the awns 

 harden. Cereal crops which have lodged badly because of overrich soil 

 or excessive rainfall may often be advantageously converted into hay. 

 (494) 



In the North, fall-sown rye and wheat furnish excellent late fall and 

 early spring pasture and soilage, while spring-sown oats and barley pro- 

 vide green forage in early summer. Barley is the best cereal grass for 

 late summer seeding, since the young plants do not rust so readily as do 

 other cereals. In the southern states fall-sown grains, including winter 

 oats, may be pastured thru the winter, and if not cropped too closely or 

 too late will still yield considerable hay or grain. At the Alabama 

 (Canebrake) Station 15 a fall-seeded barley field yielded over 11 tons of 

 green forage per acre by the following March. In southern Kansas it 

 was found that fall-sown wheat pastured by cows during mild weather 

 in winter gave a grass flavor to winter butter. The bad flavor which 

 green rye imparts to milk may usually be avoided by grazing the cows 

 thereon for but 2 or 3 hours immediately after milking. 



A field sown to rye, wheat, oats, or barley fpr temporary pasture may 

 be changed to a permanent one by sowing clover and grass seed thereon 

 early in spring in the usual manner. The grass and clover plants will 

 then begin growth under shelter of the young grain plants. Stock may 

 be turned into such pastures to graze on the cereal plants regardless of 

 the young grasses and clovers, but should be kept off the field immediate- 

 ly after rain while the ground is soft. The cattle will tramp out some 

 of the tiny grass plants, but will do no permanent harm. The young 

 grass and clover plants will grow rapidly, and as the cereal plants die 

 will spread until they form a dense, permanent sod. Such double 

 seeding gives the earliest possible summer pasture of rye, wheat, barley, 

 or oats, followed by the more permanent one of mixed grasses and clovers. 



If ensiled when the kernels are just past the milk stage or slightly 

 earlier, the cereals make silage of fair to good quality. The crop should 

 be run thru a silage cutter and unusual care taken in tramping down the 

 mass to force as much air as possible out of the hollow stems. Hooper of 

 the Kentucky Station 10 found rye silage relished by cows and not in- 

 jurious to the flavor of the milk if fed several hours before milking. (636) 



"U. S. Census, 1920. 16 Ala. Bui. 9. 16 Ky. Exten. Cir. 31. 



