456 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



hay in milk production. In Alabama, 

 4V2 per cent more butter was produced 

 on soy bean hay than on cowpea hay, 

 the soy bean hay being fed in rations 

 of Q.6 pounds a day in combination with 

 cottonseed meal and wheat bran. 



Timothy — Attention has been called 

 by Soule and others to the fact that 

 large amounts of timothy hay are an- 

 nually fed to dairy cows under the mis- 

 taken notion that it is a nutritious form 

 of roughage which cannot be replaced 

 by other cheap home-grown products. 

 Soule found, however, that corn stover 

 could well be used to replace timothy 

 hay with excellent results in milk pro- 

 duction and with considerable saving 

 in the feed bill. Timothy must be con- 

 sidered as a poor dairy feed and should 

 not ordinarily be used for that purpose. 

 Farmers locating near a large town will 

 find that they can secure more for their 

 timothy hay as a horse feed than it is 

 really worth for feeding purposes as com- 

 pared with other home-grown materials. 

 In Minnesota, timothy was found to be 

 a less economical feed than prairie hay, 

 and in Connecticut both timothy and 

 redtop proved to be unprofitable feeds 

 for dairy cows. It is strongly recom- 

 mended that timothy be replaced by 

 leguminous hays. 



Vetch — I n Alabama, Duggar found 

 vetch hay fully equal in feeding value to 

 the same weight of wheat bran. By sub- 

 stituting vetch hay for bran, the cost of 

 butter was reduced 25 per cent and a 

 monthly saving was made of $1 in the 

 feed bill for each cow. The cost of a 

 pound of butter on vetch hay was 10 

 cents, as compared with 13.4 cents on 

 bran. The waste in feeding vetch hay 

 was about 6 per cent of the total amount 

 offered to the cows. Vetch is quite ex- 

 tensively used in mixtures, and has 

 everywhere proved valuable for that pur- 

 pose. In New Hampshire, vetch hay 

 was found to be superior to timothy or 

 oat hay. 



Wheat — In the western states, wheat 

 is sometimes cut in the early dough 

 stage and fed to dairy cows in the form 

 of hay. In Connecticut, wheat was 

 found to be, next to rye, the earliest 

 available crop for soiling purposes. 

 Wheat is better relished than rye and 

 can, therefore, be fed to cows for longer 

 periods. 



SOILING CROPS 



The practice of raising forage crops 

 expressly for the purpose of cutting 

 green and feeding in this condition, is 

 known as soiling. This practice is 

 more extensive in dairy farming than in 

 any other line of animal industry. In 

 a system of soiling as compared with 

 pasture, a great increase in the carry- 

 ing capacity of the farm is secured, a 

 much larger amount of forage being 

 produced on a given area of land than 

 is possible by pasture. Moreover, less 

 land and less grain are required, the 

 land is maintained in a higher state of 

 fertility and cultivation and the manure 

 may be saved in a more available form. 

 Soiling becomes necessary from a finan- 

 cial standpoint as soon as the price of 

 farm land rises from the influence of 

 proximity of cities. It then becomes 

 highly unprofitable to hold large areas of 

 land for pasture. The system of soiling 

 has been favorably reported on wherever 

 it has been tested. It may be used as 

 the exclusive form of summer feeding 

 or merely to supplement pastures during 

 the dry part of summer. No extra ma- 

 chinery is required in introducing a soil- 

 ing system upon the farm, but the labor 

 involved is greater than where the land 

 is left in pasture. 



System of rotation — I n order to have 

 green crops for dairy cows from early 

 summer until frost, it is necessary to 

 adopt some system of rotation. Most 

 soiling crops do not remain at their best 

 for more than 10 days, corn and 

 sorghum excepted. It is desirable, 

 therefore, to sow a portion of each field 

 at weekly intervals. If rye and wheat 

 are sown in the fall, they will be ready 

 to feed in May and June of the following 

 year. At the opening of spring, barley 

 may be sown, followed by four or five 

 sowings of oats and peas ; these will serve 

 for use in July. At the last sowing of 

 oats and peas, corn and sorghum may be 

 planted, and will then be ready in 

 August and September. The land occu- 

 pied by oats and peas will be free in 

 June and may be planted to millet or 

 barley for use in September and Oc- 

 tober. Thus, in New Jersey and else- 

 where it has been found that by a suit- 

 able system of rotation, a continuous 

 supply of green forage may be obtained 

 from May 1 to November 1, and that 

 during this period 25 cows may be fed 

 from 7 acres of land. 



