44 Bulletin 827, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



wintering cattle. Every effort should be made to increase the pro- 

 duction of forage crops, especially the legume hays and silage crops. 

 To save roughages properly in that region, where summer rains are 

 frequent and the moist atmosphere favors rapid spoiling in the field, 

 more attention must be given to storing under cover. Sufficient mow 

 space should be provided in barns to store all hays. 



Silage may be made largely regardless of any weather conditions. 

 Practically the entire feeding value of a plant is utilized when stored 

 in the silo; this is a particular advantage with corn, which is the 

 most reliable silage crop grown in the" Piney Woods. 



Corn is cut for silage at a time when the plant has the highest 

 feeding value. In the case of the rank-growing southern varieties of 

 corn about half of the feeding value of the plant is left after the 

 ear is removed. When fed as silage the entire plant is consumed 

 without waste, but if the ear is snapped and the stalks left in the 

 field the sustenance leaches away rapidly, much of the feed is 

 trampled down, and only a small percentage of the feeding value is 

 utilized. Cutting the corn and curing into stover give uncertain 

 results unless it is protected from the weather. 



Corn and velvet beans make the greatest tonnage per acre of all 

 silage crops grown in the Piney Woods and the silage has a very high 

 feeding value due to the high protein content. The difficulty of 

 harvesting the crop because of the heavy vine growth is the only 

 obstacle to the general use of velvet beans as silage. 



Where lumber is so plentiful a silo should be on every farm where 

 cattle are raised, but on inquiry of all owners of pure-bred bulls, so 

 far as lists are available, it was found that less than 1 per cent were 

 using silos. The silo is a most valuable piece of equipment for 

 the cattle farm and should be constructed even before cattle are 

 purchased. 



Velvet beans, in view of their adaptation to the region and the 

 enormous quantity produced, should be the chief concentrated feed 

 used. The value of this feed is not fully appreciated and a large 

 proportion of the total acreage is now being used as pasture in a 

 wasteful manner. Inquiry in every county of the Piney Woods 

 brought out the fact that it is almost a universal practice to pasture 

 all beans used as feed on the farm where grown. Most farmers 

 provide no other feed for wintering cattle and many men use velvet- 

 bean pasture in preference to silos. 



Velvet beans in the pod are equal in feeding value to wheat bran 

 and have about half the value of high-grade cottonseed meal. Cer- 

 tainty no farmer would allow his breeding cattle to run to the bin 

 and eat their fill of bran or cottonseed meal. Turning stock cattle 

 on bean fields means practically the same thing as giving them a 

 fattening ration of a protein feed instead of a maintenance ration. 



