15a SILAGE CROPS. 



months, but that after this time there is a tendency to decompose, 

 take on a bad odor and lose considerable of its feeding value. 



What has been said in regard to the siloing of clover refers to 

 alfalfa as well. Al'falfa silage compares favorably with clover 

 silage, both in chemical composition and in feeding value. It is 

 richer in flesh-forming substances (protein) than clover silage, or 

 any other kind of silage, and makes a most valuable feed for farm 

 animals, especially young stock and dairy cows. 



Additional information regarding the use of alfalfa as a silage 

 crop will be found in chapter eight of this book, entitled "Silage 

 Crops for the Semi-Arid Keglons and for the South." 



Cow Peas are to the South what alfalfa is to the West, and 

 when properly handled make excellent and most valuable silage. 

 The cow peas are sown early in the season, either broadcast, about 

 IVa bushels to tlie acre and turned under with a one-horse turning 

 plow, or drilled in rows about two feet apart. They are cut with 

 ^ a mower when one-half or more of the peas on the vines are fully 

 ripe, and are immediately raked in windrows and hauled to the 

 silo, where th^y are run through a feed cutter and cut into inch 

 or half inch lengths. 



Cow pea silage is greatly relished by farm animals after they 

 once become accustomed to its peculiar flavor; farmers who have 

 had considerable practical' experience in feeding this silage are of 

 the opinion that cow-pea silage has no equal for "cows and sheep. 

 It Is also a good hog food, and for all these animals is considered 

 greatly superior to pea-vine hay. In feeding experiments at a 

 Delaware experiment station six pounds of pea-vine silage fully 

 took the place of one pound of wheat bran, and the product of one 

 acre was found equivalent to two tons of bran. 



Instead of placing only cow peas in the silo, alternate loads of 

 cow peas and corn may be cut and filled into the silo, which will 

 make a very satisfactory mixed silage, much richer in muscle 

 building material than pure com silage. A modification of this 

 practice Is known as Getty's method, in which corn and cow peas 

 are grown In alternate rows, and harvested together with a corn 

 harvester. Corn for this combination crop is preferably a large 

 Southern variety, drilled in rows 4% feet apart, with stalks 9 to 

 16 inches apart in the row. WhippoorwlU peas are planted in drills 

 close to the rows of corn when this is about six inches high, and 

 has been cultivated once. The crop is cut when the corn Is begin- 

 ning to glaze, and when three-fourths of the pea pods are ripe. 



