190 



FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



excellent roughage for horses, cattle, and sheep. When cowpea hay is 

 fed to dairy cows or fattening steers the concentrates maj' be re- 

 duced to one-half the amount needed when a carbonaceous roughage, 

 such as corn stover or hay from the grasses, is fed. To support the 

 vines, cowpeas are often grown with corn or sorghum. Frequently, 

 some of the cowpea seed is picked by hand, and the remainder of the 

 crop grazed by cattle, sheep, or pigs. Cowpeas and corn or sorghum 

 also make palatable protein-rich silage. Thru greater use of cow- 

 peas and the other legumes which flourish there the live-stock industry 

 of the South may be enormously increased. 



Soybean. — Soybeans, which mature sufficiently for hay wherever 

 corn may be grown for silage, and are not injured by slight frosts, 

 are better adapted to the northern part of the corn belt than cowpeas. 

 Tho more drought-resistant than cowpeas, they will not thrive on 

 such poor land. The plants, which are bushy, should be cut for hay 



Fig. 53. — Soybeans Which Yielded 2.5 Tons of Hay Per Acre 



Soybeans are adapted to the same range of climate as corn and, because of 

 their resistance to drought, are especially suited to sandy soils. (From Breeder's 

 (Jazette.) 



when the pods are well formed but before the leaves begin to turn 

 yellow, for soon thereafter the stems become woody and the leaves 

 easily drop off. The crop yields from 1 to 3 tons per acre of ha}^ 

 equal to cowpea or alfalfa hay in feeding value. While soybeans 

 alone make rank smelling silage, 1 ton of soybeans ensiled with 3 to 



