SUDAN GRASS AND RELATED PLANTS. 47 



mately 22 head of sheep per acre and produced gains of about one- 

 third pound a day during the pasture period. This flock of sheep was 

 composed of 16 lambs and 6 ewes. The land was irrigated before 

 seeding the grass but not afterwards. The field was pastured inter- 

 mittently from July 24 to October 29, and 2.32 tons per acre of hay 

 were obtained in addition to the pasturage. 



As a pasture on irrigated lands Sudan grass probably ranks next 

 to alfalfa, and has an advantage over the latter crop in not causing 

 bloat in cattle and sheep, as alfalfa sometimes does. At the Yuma 

 experiment farm, Bard, Calif., in the summer of 1915, a field of 

 Sudan grass maintained an average of three head per acre of work 

 horses and milk cows over a period of six months. The field was 

 divided in halves and the halves pastured alternately in periods of 

 two to three weeks. The grass was irrigated in each case as soon as 

 the stock were removed and left unpastured until the ground became 

 firm and the growth was 4 or 5 inches high. 



A comparison of Sudan grass with Dallis grass (Paspalum dilatatum) 

 on the Murrumbidgee irrigation areas of New South Wales is also of 

 interest (3, p. 14). Cows to the number of 28 which had been 

 grazing on the Dallis grass were transferred to a field of Sudan grass, 

 with the results shown in Table XV. 



Table XV. — Comparison of the milk and butter produced daily by 28 cows when graz- 

 ing on Sudan grass and on Dallis grass. 





Kind of pasture. 



Daily production (pounds). 





Milk. 



Butter fat. 



Commercial 

 butter. 



Sudan grass 



574 

 518 



28.24 

 24.03 



34.50 



Dallis grass 



28.31 







Although the cows pastured the Sudan grass later in their lactation 

 period than they did the Dallis grass, the results showed an increase 

 of 56 pounds of milk and 4.21 pounds of butter fat, or 6.19 pounds 

 of butter, in the daily output of the 28 cows when they were changed 

 from the Dallis grass to the Sudan grass. The records were made just 

 before the cows were taken off the Dallis grass and again after they 

 had been on the Sudan grass two weeks. 



In addition to the foregoing experiments some very conclusive re- 

 sults have been obtained by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment 

 Station in pasturing milk cows on Sudan grass (5) . An upland field 

 containing 5.4 acres was seeded to this grass on June 6, and 6 Hol- 

 stein cows, which had previously been fed on alfalfa hay, silage, and 

 grain, were turned into the field on July 10. The grass was then 3 

 or 4 feet high, lack of labor preventing the inauguration of the experi- 

 ment earlier, when the grass was at the proper height for pasturing. 



