A PASTURE HANDBOOK 13 



Sheep fescue (Festuca ovina) is a near relative of red fescue, but 

 is a small bunch grass very drought resistant and of some value on 

 sheep ranges. 



Slender wheatgrass is perhaps better suited for use as a hay plant 

 than for pasture. However, until the introduction of crested wheat- 

 grass, slender wheatgrass and bromegrass were the only grasses 

 available that could be gro^\^l successfully under the unfavorable cli- 

 matic conditions prevailing in the northern Great Plains and adjacent 

 areas in Canada. Mixtures of slender wheatgrass and sweetclover 

 are usually preferable for grazing to pure stands of either. 



Timothy is distinctly a hay grass, and from the time of its introduc- 

 tion until recently, when automobiles supplanted horses and mules 

 in the cities, timothy was the leading tame hay on the markets. Its 

 use in pasture mixtures is warranted, because it grows rapidly from 

 seed and is leafy and palatable, providing abundant, excellent pas- 

 turage wliile the slower growing turf grasses are becoming established. 



Vasey grass resembles Dallis grass very much but has fewer basal 

 leaves and is less valuable for pastures. It comes in spontaneously on 

 the rice and sugarcane lands of southern Louisiana. 



LEGUMES DESIRABLE IN PERMANENT PASTURES 



The legumes which alone or in mixture with the grasses (table 1) 

 previously described contribute most to the productiveness of our 

 permanent pastures are Usted in table 2 and discussed in the text. 

 The table supplies information respecting the climatic and soil adapta- 

 tions of these legumes, their palatability, the time and rate of seeding, 

 and the season when available for grazing. No attempt has been 

 made to include the native legumes the seed of which is not available 

 commercially, nor introduced species that are of only minor impor- 

 tance in pastures. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS LEGUMES 



Alfalfa. — While alfalfa has been used extensively for grazing in 

 California, it has not been much used in the Eastern States because of 

 frequent losses of livestock by bloating and because of the injurious 

 effect of grazing on the stand. If the crop is allowed to become quite 

 mature before being grazed, both troubles are avoided to a large 

 extent, but the full feed value of the crop is not reaUzed by such a 

 practice. The most profitable practice appears to be to cut the first 

 crop for hay and to graze during the rest of the season. Apparently 

 the stand of alfalfa may be maintained if not grazed too severely and if 

 the animals are removed sufficiently early in the faU to allow the 

 alfalfa to restore the exhausted food reserves in the root system. 



Alsike, red, and white clovers are too well known and commonly 

 used for grazing to need discussion. The first two are included in the 

 majority of pasture mixtures recommended in those sections where 

 adapted, but generally they do not last more than 2 years. White 

 clover seldom provides much grazing until the second season, but if the 



