SWEET CLOVER: UTILIZATION. 9 



Horses and mules do well on sweet-clover pastures. On account of 

 the high protein content sweet clover provides excellent pasturage for 

 young stock. Xo cases of slobbering have been noted with horses. 



TAINTING MILK AND BUTTER. 



Milk may be tainted occasionally when cows are pasturing on sweet 

 clover. However, the large majority of farmers who pasture sweet 

 clover on an extensive scale report very little or no trouble. The 

 flavor imparted to milk at times is not disliked by all people, as some 

 state that it is agreeable and does not harm the market value of dairy 

 products in the least. This trouble is experienced for the most part 

 in the early spring. The tainting of milk may be avoided by taking 

 the cows off the pasture two hours before milking and keeping them 

 off until after milking the following morning. 



BLOATING. 



Unlike the true clovers and alfalfa, sweet clover seldom causes 

 bloat; in fact, with the exception of the summer of 1915, only a few 

 authentic cases of bloat have thus far been recorded in sections where 

 large acreages are pastured with cattle and sheep. A number of 

 cases of bloat were reported in Iowa during the abnormally wet 

 season of 1915. Xo satisfactory explanation for this comparative 

 freedom from bloating has been offered. It is held by some that the 

 coumarin in the plants prevents bloating, but this has not been 

 established experimentally. 



TREATMENT FOR BLOAT. 



Cattle. If the case of bloat is not extreme, it may be sufficient to 

 drive the animals at a walk for a quarter or half an hour. In ur- 

 gent cases the gas must be allowed to escape without delay, and this 

 is best accomplished by the use of the trocar. In selecting the place 

 for using the trocar, the highest point of the distended flank equally 

 distant from the last rib and the point of the hip must be chosen. 

 Here an incision about three-fourths of an inch long should be made 

 with a knife through the skin, and then the sharp point of the trocar, 

 being directed downward, inward, and slightly forward, is thrust 

 into the paunch. The sheath of the trocar should be left in the 

 paunch as long as any gas continues to issue from it. In the absence 

 of a trocar an incision may be made with a small-bladecl knife and 

 a quill used to permit the gas to escape. Care must be taken to see 

 that the quill does not work down out of sight into the incision. 



Another remedy consists in tying a large bit, the diameter of a 

 pitchfork handle, in the mouth, so that a piece of rubber tubing may 

 be passed through the mouth to the first stomach to allow T the gas 

 to escape. 



87980 Bull. 82017 2 



