A PASTURE HANDBOOK 



51 



improved breeds, developed on fertile soils, are moved to poor soils 

 and bred to reproduce before maturity and regularly each year there- 

 after, various physiological disturbances are likely to result. 



Both lime and phosphorus can be supplied to the animals, either by 

 applying lime and some phosphate fertilizer to the pasture soil or by 

 giving the animals a mineral supplement such as bone meal. Bone 

 meal is commonly mixed with salt, equal parts by weight. Other 

 combinations are: 2 parts bone meal and 1 part salt; and 1 part each 

 of bone meal, finely ground Umestone, and salt. 



PROTEINS AND OTHER NUTRIENTS 



Samples of bluegrass, gathered at intervals of from 2 to 6 weeks 

 from May to September at Beltsville, Md., had a crude-protein con- 

 tent of 17.5 percent on a dry matter basis. This is about double that 

 of ear corn and slightly liigher than that of wheat bran or middlings 

 (table 8). The protein of pasturage is also high in quality as well as in 

 quantity. This appUes particularly to the protein in the leaves, 

 which are valuable for supplementing the protein deficiencies of the 

 cereal grains. Typical analyses of immature grass and some common 

 feeds are given in table 8. 



Table 8. — Analyses of typical immature grass (percentage) , calculated at a 10-per- 

 cent water content, and of some common dry feeds 



Feed 



Pasturage: 



Bluegrass 



Pasture mixture 



Sudan grass 



Sweet vernal 



White clover 



Cereals and cereal products: 



Corn (shelled) 



Corn (corn-and-cob meal)_ 



Oats 



Wheat bran 



Wheat middlings or shorts 



Grass hays: 



Johnson grass 



Sudan grass 



Timothy 



Legume hays: 



Alfalfa 



Lespedeza 



Red clover 



Oil-mill products: 



Cottonseed meal (choice) __ 

 Linseed meal (old process) 



Stover and straws: 



Corn stover 



Oat straw 



Wheat straw 



The crude-fiber content, on the basis of the dry matter, is liigher 

 in immature grass than in most concentrates, but digestion experi- 

 ments have shown that the fiber of immature grass is as digestible as 

 its other nutrients and those of concentrates in general. It is only 

 after the toughening of grass begins, which happens at about the 

 flowering stage, that the crude fiber of pasturage becomes difficult 

 to digest and hinders the digestion of its other nutrients. The average 

 digestibility of the dry matter of unmature grass is approximately 71 

 percent, whereas that of hay from similar plants at a more mature 

 stage is about 59 percent. 



