Legume and Grass Silage 7 



Alfalfa and combinations of alfalfa with wheat, oats, clover, and timothy, 

 were used more extensively and over a wider area than any other crops. 

 Clover, timothy, clover and timothy, timothy and grasses yielded a very good 

 tonnage for a large number of operators on New England, New York, and 

 New Jersey farms. Soybeans alone and in combination with other crops 

 ranked high, both in green tonnage per acre and in popularity with the oper- 

 ators. Cowpeas, vetch, and sudan grass, in various combinations found their 

 way into many silos. 



Among the cereals used for grass silage, oats alone and in combination 

 comprised a large acreage scattered through all the states of the northeastern 

 section. Such combinations as oats and peas; oats and alfalfa; oats and 

 clover ; oats, millet and soybeans ; and oats, peas and vetch, furnished a very 

 palatable roughage on many farms. Other cereals ensiled were wheat, rye, 

 barley, and Japanese millet. 



Some operators ensiled combinations of winter wheat and vetch ; rye 

 and vetch ; corn, millet and sudan grass ; and pea and bean vines from the can- 

 neries. From New York comes a report of bluegrass making a satisfactory 

 silage and the Florida Experiment Station reported Dallis grass yielding thirty 

 tons an acre. 



Alfalfa probably makes the best silage, as this survey demonstrates. This 

 is because of the longer range of time over which the crop can be cut and 

 ensiled and still make excellent silage. The operators have ensiled their 

 alfalfa in all stages of growing conditions from pre-bloom, through half- 

 bloom, full-bloom and after-bloom stages, and have reported their silage feed- 

 ing out in very satisfactory condition. Furthermore, these methods provide a 

 means of handling the first cutting of alfalfa which is usually difficult to 

 cure and makes a coarse hay. 



It should be noted, however, that crops cut in the after-bloom and mature 

 stages did not keep as well in the silo unless large amounts of water were 

 added. In any case the feeding value was materially lowered because the 

 protein composition of the green materials decreased rapidly with maturity. 



According to the survey, 16,610 milking cows were fed grass silage in 

 amounts ranging from 12 to 95 pounds per cow per day. The amounts of 

 silage fed depended on the breed of cows and the purpose for which it was 

 intended, namely ; to replace hay, corn silage, pasture, part, or all of the 

 roughage in the diet. The highest amount of grass silage fed per head per 

 day was 95 pounds. In this herd a mixed grass and legume silage was fed to 

 replace all of the corn silage and most of the hay. The grain ratio fed in 

 addition was one pound to four and one-half pounds of milk. 



In feeding grass silage it should be kept in mind that alfalfa silage 

 fed to replace corn silage delivers twice the amount of protein. A 1,000 

 pound cow producing 40 pounds of 3.5 per cent milk needs 2.5 pounds 

 of digestible protein. The same cow fed 60 pounds of alfalfa silage a day 

 will receive 2.7 pounds of crude protein which is almost enough to meet all 



