268 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



the usual midsummer shrinkage in milk flow with cows, and in flesh with 

 beef cattle or sheep. Under this system animals may be housed in 

 darkened stables away from the flies during the heated portion of the 

 day and fed liberally with fresh cut soilage, being turned to pasture 

 at night for exercise and grazing. Young cattle will then continue 

 growing, steers will increase in fatness, and cows yield a normal flow 

 of milk during a period of the year when, because of heat, flies, and 

 scant pastures, there is quite commonly no profit, and sometimes serious 

 loss. It is also often advantageous to supply extra green forage during 

 the fall months, even tho the pastures have then partly recovered their 

 ability to supply nutriment. 



Because of the high price of labor in this country, it is not usually 

 economical to maintain cattle in summer on soilage or silage with no 

 pasturage in regions where good summer pastures may be provided. On 

 high-priced land where it is desired to keep as many animals as pos- 

 sible on a given area such a system may be the most profitable. In 

 Europe, where labor is relatively cheap compared with land, a much 

 wider use can economically be made of soilage. 



421. Crops for soilage. A long list of crops are well suited for soilage, 

 including the various legumes, such as alfalfa, the clovers, field peas, 

 cowpeas, and soybeans; the cereals, as rye, wheat, barley, and oats; 

 the smaller grasses; and especially corn sweet corn for early feeding 

 and field corn later and the sorghums. The adaptability of all these 

 for soilage has been discussed in the preceding chapters. 



Soiling crops should not be fed until reasonably mature. Green, 

 immature plants are composed largely of water, and often cattle cannot 

 consume enough of them to secure the required nourishment. (23, 310) 

 For this reason, where quite green crops are fed, some dry forage should 

 also be supplied. 



422. A soiling chart. Wherever soilage is practiced, a succession of 

 crops must be carefully planned so that a continuous supply of green 

 forage of the proper stage of maturity will be available over the period 

 desired. This must be worked out by each farmer, bearing in mind the 

 yields and seasons of maturity of the various crops which are suited to 

 his soil and climatic conditions. In such planning it is helpful to pre- 

 pare a soiling chart, similar to the following, worked out by Voorhees 

 of the New Jersey Station, 32 which will show the area of each crop to 

 be grown, the date of seeding, the period of feeding, and the estimated 

 yield. Any attempt in this line will be more or less imperfect at first 

 but may be modified from growing experience and close study to meet 

 the local conditions. 



This chart is an example of a practical system of soilage, since it 

 records the actual attainment of one who most successfully specialized 

 in this system for many years. The results here reported were obtained 

 upon lands once regarded as of low agricultural value, brought to high 



"Forage Crops, p. 35. 



