136 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



carrying about as much protein and nitrogen-free extract as corn, but 

 1.5 per ct. less fat. Properly supplemented with, protein-rich feeds, 

 they are excellent for all classes of animals. Tho less palatable than 

 corn, their nutritive value ranges from fully equal to this grain to 

 15 per ct. less. For horses, fattening cattle, dairy cows, and pigs the 

 grain is usually ground, being then called "chop." Grinding for 

 sheep is unnecessary. Often the unthreshed heads are fed, or the 

 forage carrying the heads is supplied, especially to idle horses, colts, 

 and young stock. The product obtained by grinding the entire heads, 

 called "head chop," resembles corn-and-cob meal in composition. 



Kafir. — The kafirs lead the sorghums in both grain and forage pro- 

 duction in eastern Kansas and Oklahoma. They are stout-stemmed, 

 broad-leaved plants, having slightly sweet juice and long, erect, cylin- 

 drical heads carrying small egg-shaped seeds. The kafirs do not 

 sucker, nor do they lodge or shatter the grain. In good seasons and 

 on fertile soil yields of 50 bushels or over are secured. As kafir grain 

 is astringent and constipating, it is best fed with alfalfa or clover hay, 

 or other laxative feeds. 



Milo. — Next to kafir, milo is the most important of the grain 

 sorghums. It is less leafy than kafir, and hence is not as valuable for 

 forage. The heads are short and thick, goose-necked in most varieties, 

 and with large flat seeds. As it is earlier, milo outyields kafir in the 

 extreme west of the sorghum belt. Unlike kafir, milo has a slight laxa- 

 tive effect. 



Feterita. — This type has erect heads and slender stems with more 

 leaves than milo but less than kafir. It yields as much grain as kafir, 

 tho less forage, and is of importance for the eastern part of the grain 

 sorghum belt. Unfortunately, it stools and lodges badly. 



Kaoliang. — These early-maturing sorghums from northern China 

 are especially suited to the northern plains district, where the other 

 types will not mature. The kaoliangs yield as much grain as the milos 

 and will stand drought better, but the forage is scanty and of poor 

 quality, the stalks being pithy and the leaves few. 



Sweet sorghumjf. — The sweet sorghums, or sorghos, are forage rather 

 than grain producers, and are therefore discussed more fully in Chap- 

 ter XII. For grain production they are surpassed by corn in the 

 humid regions and by the grain sorghums in the plains districts. The 

 seed is not as palatable nor of as high feeding value as kafir or milo. 



Millets. — The millets chiefly grown in this country are : ( 1 ) , the 

 foxtail millets, all resembling common foxtail or pigeon grass in 

 appearance; and (2), the broom corn, proso, or hog millets, which have 

 spreading or panicled heads, wide hairy leaves, and large seeds. The 

 forage types are considered in Chapter XIII. In humid regions mil- 



