TEE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



401 



Johnson grass — This grass is con- 

 sidered of great value, or a curse, de- 

 pending on whether a system of stock 

 farming is pursued or cultivated crops to 

 be marketed as such. In Mississippi, an 

 experiment was carried out to deter- 

 mine the relative feeding value of John- 

 son grass hay as compared with cotton- 

 seed hulls. It appeared that 1 pound of 

 Johnson grass hay was equal to 1.2 

 pounds of hulls, giving a value of $10 

 a ton to the hay, when hulls are worth 

 $8.33. 



Kafir corn stover — In tests at the 

 Oklahoma experiment station, this for- 

 age proved to be somewhat inferior to 

 alfalfa hay, but equal to corn stover. 

 Kafir corn stover was found to be infe- 

 rior to corn fodder. In Kansas, however, 

 corn stover and kafir corn stover ap- 

 peared to have equal feeding value. This 



is offensive to animals if eaten in large 

 quantities. Tannin interferes with the 

 digestion and in some cases causes ex- 

 cessive thirst and constipation. The 

 average amount of tannin in the various 

 kinds of oaks in the arid regions is 

 about 10 per cent. 



Pastures — The kind and quality of 

 pastures used for beef animals in va- 

 rious parts of the United States show a 

 great variation. The pasture may be 

 uncultivated for years and may contain 

 nothing but native grasses in scattered 

 bunches and not forming a complete 

 sod. On the other hand, some system of 

 rotation may be adopted, according to 

 which the pasture land is from time to 

 time plowed up, cultivated to various 

 crops, then used as a meadow and fi- 

 nally allowed to run to pasture again. In 

 the range areas of the far western states, 



Fig. 267 — CATTLE GRAZING ON SALT BUSHES ON ALKALI LAND 



forage is not raised in sufficient quanti- 

 ties to make it an important steer feed, 

 except in parts of the southwest. 



Oak leaves — On many of the west- 

 ern ranges, particularly in the more arid 

 parts of Utah, Nevada and California, 

 range cattle derive considerable food 

 from oak brush. The scrub oaks, of 

 which a number of species grow in this 

 region, are low and much branched and 

 furnish an abundance of foliage. A 

 study of oak leaves as forage was carried 

 on at the California experiment station 

 by Mackie. It was found that the decid- 

 uous oaks carry a higher nutritive value 

 than live oaks, and are better relished by 

 cattle, horses and sheep. Only sheep and 

 goats thrive on the live oaks. Cattle 

 eat not only the leaves of scrub oaks, 

 but also the small twigs and at times 

 kill the bushes. Oak leaves cany a 

 considerable amount of tannin, which 



the beef raisers depend, to a large ex- 

 tent, for a maintenance ration upon 

 the native grasses which are exceedingly 

 nutritious. 



According to Mumford, it appears 

 that in Illinois, about 55 per cent of the 

 beef raisers use blue grass pasture, 25 

 per cent timothy, 15 per cent clover, 

 and small numbers use redtop, rye, cow- 

 peas, orchard grass and other grasses. 

 The carrying capacity of pasture varies 

 according to the quality and quantity 

 of the forage. In the case of ordinary 

 pasture land, about 2 acres are required 

 for each steer during the summer. In 

 general, however, the amount may be put 

 down as being from 1 to 4 acres. Year- 

 ling steers and calves require less acre- 

 age of pasture. The time for returning 

 cattle to pasture varies in different parts 

 of the country. In the corn belt it 

 ranges from April 1 to June 1, but is 



