A PASTUEE HANDBOOK 



35 



CROPS FOR SUMMER AND EARLY FALL GRAZING 



SUDAN GRASS 



Sudan grass leads the list of crops suitable for supplemental pasture 

 in the summer months. Although not introduced into the United 

 States until 1909, it is now grown in almost every State in the Union. 

 Sudan grass can be seeded any tmie after the ground is warm in the 

 spring until midsummer ; and if the soil has a fair amount of moisture 

 at seeding time, grazing may begin witliin 4 or 5 weeks and continue 

 until frost. Sudan grass also makes a very palatable hay and will 

 jdeld several tons per acre. The crop may be seeded with an ordinary 



FiGUEE 10.— A sweetclover field used as pasture for dairy cattle in Michigan. Such a field properly man- 

 aged makes excellent supplemental pasture. 



grain drill. The seed is inexpensive, and failures to get a good stand 

 are rare. 



Sudan grass has one weakness that occasionally mars its excellent 

 record. After very severe drought or after frost, Uvestock grazing 

 on it may suffer from prussic-acid poisoning. It is ad^dsable to re- 

 frain from grazing Sudan grass that has been noticeably injured by 

 drought or frost. The grass so injured can be fed as hay without 

 any cause for worry, since curing seems to remove the danger. 



SWEETCLOVER 



Sweetclover is more truly a rotation pasture than a supplemental 

 pasture. Its greatest use is in the Com Belt and the Great Plains 

 as far south as Oklahoma and as far north as Saskatchewan, Canada. 

 It is a biennial. The first year's growth furnishes grazing in the late 

 summer and fall, except where the summers are too dry to permit 

 adequate growth. The second year's growth develops rapidly in 

 the early spring and may be heavily grazed till about July (fig. 10). 



