SORGHUM. 43 



Pasturing. — Sorghum furnishes excellent pas- 

 ture for horses and mules not at work, for all kinds 

 of cattle and for sheep and swine. As it grows up 

 again when eaten down, it is not necessary that it 

 shall be so far advanced as corn before the pasturing 

 begins. When the area of the sorghum pasture is 

 large in proportion to the stock to be pastured on it, 

 then pasturing should begin early, and vice versa. 

 But in no case should it be eaten down until it has 

 made a growth of several inches from the ground, 

 as when young and tender it is easily injured by live 

 stock feeding upon it. At the Minnesota University 

 experiment station good results have been obtained 

 from turning sheep in upon the sorghum when it had 

 reached the hight of about fifteen to eighteen inches, 

 as shown in Fig. 6. But with the exception of a por- 

 tion of the stem, sheep will graze it down when it is 

 much higher than fifteen to eighteen inches. Cattle 

 will, of course, break down and waste much more 

 than sheep. Swine may be grazed upon it as early as 

 sheep. But it is when sorghum approaches maturity 

 and subsequently that swine would seem to be most 

 benefited by pasturing upon it. They chew the 

 stem and extract the nutriment from it without swal- 

 lowing much of the stem. 



All things considered, however, sorghum pas- 

 ture is more valuable relatively for sheep than for any 

 other kind of live stock. And to get the best results 

 from sorghum pasture, the sheep should not be 

 allowed to graze it off too closely. It will grow 

 again, though grazed closely, but the growth will be 

 slower and less vigorous than if the pasturing had 

 not been so close. Stripping off all the leaves would 

 seem to detract somewhat from the inherent vigor 



