A PASTURE HANDBOOK 



ESTABLISHMENT, MAINTENANCE, AND IMPROVEMENT 



OF PASTURES 



B}' H. N. ViXALL, senior agronomist, and C. R. Enlow, formerly associate 

 agronomist, Division of Forage Crops arid Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry 



CONSIDERATIONS IN ESTABLISHING PASTURES 



In planning for pastures on the average farm a number of things 

 should be taken into consideration. The principal object, of course, 

 is to provide feed for livestock, and most of the following discussion 

 is centered on this phase of the subject. However, there are other 

 advantages to be derived from pastures, some of which are of special 

 importance under present agricultural conditions, as indicated in the 

 foreword. The importance of pastures in livestock production, 

 including their effect in reducing the cost of feed and promoting the 



FiGUEE 1.— An example of good land practically ruined by the long continuation of improper methods of 

 management. Such conditions can be prevented by proper cultural methods or by keeping the land in 

 pastiu'e and avoiding overgrazing. 



health of the ammals, is discussed elsewhere in tliis publication 

 (see pp. 44^7). It is desirable to point out here briefly some of the 

 favorable reactions on the soil which accrue from pastures, all of 

 which have a direct bearing on the C|uestion of what and how much 

 land should be seeded down to grass. 



Recent activities of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 and the State experiment stations have pro\dded some very significant 

 data in regard to the losses of soil on land in cultivated crops as 

 compared with that on similar land protected by a cover of grasses 

 or legumes. It has been found that land planted to cotton on a 

 7 percent slope in Oldahoma or Texas (fig. 1) loses annually from 14 

 to 17 tons per acre of the best topsoil. ^Yhere this land is in grass, 

 the annual loss is only 0.04 to 0.5 ton per acre. The run-off (rainfall 

 loss) on the cotton land is 13 percent, while on land in Bermuda 

 grass it is less than 2 percent. The decaying grass roots keep the 

 soil porous and create a favorable condition for the absorption of 

 moisture. 



Land planted to corn on an S- to 10-percent slope in Missouri and 

 North Carolina loses 15 to 17 tons per acre of soil annually, while 



