Cut-Over Pine Lands in the South. 45 



It must also be borne in mind that the grazing is the best when the 

 cattle are first turned on the pasture and gradually dwindles to 

 nothing. This condition is always true in grazing velvet beans and 

 is the opposite of what it should be for fattening cattle. For main- 

 taining cattle the ration should be constant, with a limited quantity 

 of concentrate and all the roughage they will eat. 



In an experiment at Collins, Miss., which has been previously 

 mentioned, 78 head of mature cattle exhausted a 40-acre field of 

 velvet beans in 28 days. It is evident that no measure of the yield 

 of beans could be taken, but the estimated average of 500 pounds 

 per acre was below the estimate of farmers accustomed to having 

 beans picked from the field by the hundredweight. With an average 

 of 500 pounds to the acre this field contained 20,000 pounds of 

 beans, and if the beans were all consumed without waste the aver- 

 age daily ration of beans was 9.1 pounds a head. This ration was 

 about right for fattening cattle but was excessive for breeding cows, 

 and the cows made an average daily gain of 1.25 pounds a head. 

 From this experiment conclusions were drawn as follows : 



In view of the scarcity of labor and the high cost of picking beans the 

 pasture furnished economical feed for fattening cattle. However, it would 

 not appear profitable to turn stock cattle on velvet-bean fields yielding more 

 than 500 pounds an acre unless they could be allowed to run on the field 

 a short period each day, as the beans would be less efficiently used than if 

 picked and hand fed. 



Where beans make a heavy yield, stock cattle should be turned 

 on the field only 1 or 2 hours each day, depending on the ease with 

 which the cattle can get a fill of beans. Late in winter and in 

 spring the bean leaves and stalks do not supply roughage enough 

 and some other roughage, such as the grass remaining on the range, 

 should be fed as a filler. A reserve supply of beans should be picked 

 to feed when the bean pastures fail, which usualty happens when 

 the cows are heavy with calf and need feed the most. 



Velvet-bean pasture may be used economically for fattening cattle, 

 but steers should be removed when the pastures begin to fail, and 

 should be kept on heavy feed until finished for market, leaving the 

 remaining beans in the field to be cleaned up by stock cattle. 



The only method of completely utilizing the velvet-bean crop for 

 winter feed is to ensile it. This clears the field in time to plant a 

 cover crop of rye for winter and spring grazing; the carrying ca- 

 pacity of a given acreage in feed crops may be doubled or trebled 

 in this manner. By planting the early maturing varieties of beans 

 which do not make a heavy vine growth the crop may be handled 

 for silage without excessive labor. 



The velvet bean is so valuable as a feed that it should be utilized 

 to the fullest extent. Production of the bean crop at a very low cost 



