lO SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



exertion on the part of animals when gathering their 

 food. When the dairy cow has to travel far when 

 seeking food in the pastures, she does so at the 

 expense of food required to sustain the prolonged 

 exertion. And when food is thus used to sustain 

 energy it is very evident that it cannot be used to 

 make milk. Likewise, when growing cattle have to 

 travel beyond a certain limit in order to get supplies 

 for the day, they do so at the expense of flesh. And 

 the same is true of the horse, the sheep and the pig. 

 Live stock should, of course, be given sufficient exer- 

 cise to keep them healthy and to give them proper 

 stamina. Beyond this, exercise means waste of food, 

 and this waste can be prevented by growing a suffi- 

 ciency of soiling foods. 



Soiling foods, judiciously fed, tend to keep the 

 animal system in proper tone, hence thus far they 

 exert a favorable influence on the health of live stock 

 to which they are fed. In the absence of those foods 

 it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep the system in 

 the best of tone during certain periods of the year. 

 Where soiling foods are not grown there can be no 

 assurance of succulence in the pastures beyond the 

 early summer months. Pastures will not sustain an 

 undiminished milk flow in cows, even when consid- 

 erably short, of the yellow leaf stage. When dry 

 and crisp they are a less valuable food than well cured 

 hay, notwithstanding that the food may be abundant. 

 On such pastures swine will soon lose flesh unless 

 the pastures are supplemented with other food. By 

 growing succulent foods in due succession and in 

 adequate sufficiency they may be made available for 

 live stock in one form or the other during a large 

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