Cat-Over Pine Lands in the South. 



37 



winter feed. The cattle are held on the native pastures until 

 the pastures give out and are then put on velvet-bean fields to hold 

 them until grass comes in the spring. 



After the corn is harvested the beans are usually partly picked 

 if the cattle are to be carried through the winter on a maintenance 

 ration, but if cattle are to be fattened they are turned on fields from 

 which no beans have been picked. The leaves remain on the vines 

 for a considerable time and are eaten better by cattle after frost 

 comes. The. beans remain in the field about three months during the 

 winter without shattering or damage from rains. In fact, after they 

 have been softened by rains the cattle like them better. Beans 

 which are trampled to the ground are utilized by following the cat- 

 tle with 'hogs. The carrying capacity of the pasture varies con- 

 siderably according to the yield of beans per acre, but it is usual 



Fig. 10. — Corn and velvet beans. 



Velvet beans make an excellent growth along with 

 the corn. 



to allow from one-third to one-half an acre per head per month. It 

 requires from 1 to 1^ acres to carry a cow through the winter. 



At Collins 56 head of mature breeding cows and 22 head of mature 

 native steers were turned on 40 acres of velvet-bean pasture Decem- 

 ber 3, 1917. The pasture consisted of stalk fields from which the 

 corn had been snapped and velvet beans left unpicked. Ten acres 

 of this field would have yielded 1,000 pounds or more of picked beans 

 per acre, but the beans on the remainder of the field were scattering. 

 The average yield of the entire field was estimated at 500 pounds an 

 acre. The pasture was practically exhausted at the end of a 28-day 

 period and hogs were left to clean up the remaining beans. Pas- 



