214 Feeds and Feeding. 



cessfully specialized in this system for many years. The results 

 here reported were obtained upon lands once regarded as of low agri- 

 cultural value, brought to high productiveness by systematic soilage 

 and fertilization. The table shows that 24 acres of land, producing 2 

 and sometimes 3 crops during the season, yielded 278.3 tons of green 

 forage, supplying an average of 60.4 Ibs. of green forage daily per 

 head to an equivalent of 50 dairy cows from May 1 to November 1, a 

 period of 6 months. 



Wherever soilage is practiced there must be a high degree of order 

 and system, so that suitable green forage is available from early 

 spring until late fall, without excess or shortage. Only experience 

 and close study will make it possible for one to successfully carry out 

 the details. This experience in time finds expression in such a soil- 

 ing chart as the foregoing, which each operator will formulate to meet 

 his own particular conditions. 



Otis of the Kansas Station 1 found that it required 0.71 acre of 

 soiling crops, one-half alfalfa, to furnish a cow roughage for 144 days, 

 while, when the cow was grazed, during the same period it required 

 3.6 acres of pasture composed of prairie and mixed grasses. After 

 allowing for the grain consumed, soilage returned $18.08 and pas- 

 turage $4.23 per acre. Land intelligently devoted to soilage will pro- 

 duce from 2 to 3 times the feed yielded by the same land in pasture. 

 Voorhees 2 found that to produce a ton of dry matter in soiling crops 

 yielding from 3 to 4.5 tons of dry matter per acre, annually, cost on 

 an average $6.50, and that the total cost per ton of dry matter, in- 

 cluding the cost of cutting and hauling to the barn, would be about 

 $9. 3 The feeding value of this dry matter was nearly equal to that 

 in purchased concentrates costing over $20 per ton. 



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 nourish- 

 ment. (16, 249) For this reason, where quite green crops are fed, 

 some dry forage should also be supplied. The use of silage in summer 

 is practically soilage. The dairyman should use either silage or soil- 

 age during summer to secure the best returns from his herd. The 

 New Jersey Station 4 found that when concentrates were fed, soilage 

 and silage were of equal value in milk production. (662) 



1 Press Bui. 71. 3 Ept. New Jersey Sta., 1907. 



* Forage Crops. * Epts. 1906, 1907. 



