26 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



Sweet clover pasture is six months pasture, instead of 

 only a two or three months pasture. The second year crop 

 can be pastured earlier in the spring than bluegrass and 

 will carry a cow to each % acre. In the fall the first year 

 sweet clover in the grain stubble takes over the task of 

 keeping the cows supplied with an abundance of pasturage 

 of the very best quality. Where permanent pasture is avail- 

 able on land that can be used for no other purpose, its 

 carrying capacity can be greatly increased by sowing and 

 disking in sweet clover two years in succession, as sweet 

 clover reseeds itself only every other year. With the sweet 

 clover in the small grain stubble, this will greatly shorten 

 or eliminate the summer feeding to supplement poor 

 pastures. 



A Good Rotation Means Efficient Use of Land 



Land must be planted to the most profitable crops to 

 make a large return to the operator. Corn for silage is 

 found on most dairy farms as its value is well known and 

 the crop easy to grow. The crop which should be its insep- 

 arable companion is found more seldom, and that is alfalfa, 

 which produces twice as much tonnage per acre as the 

 other legume hay crops and almost three times as much 

 protein. Every acre planted to alfalfa instead of the other 

 hay crops, releases an acre of land to be used for other cash 

 crops. In this way, a farmer can achieve the same result by 

 growing fifteen acres of alfalfa to supply thirty cows as if 

 he purchased or rented fifteen more acres of land. How- 

 ever, by substituting alfalfa, he does not have to work the 

 additional acres nor pay taxes on them. Other legumes 

 may be grown while the land is being prepared for alfalfa, 

 but they should be considered only as stepping stones to 

 the more profitable alfalfa, which every farmer should 

 make every effort to grow. 



Pasture on tillable land has always been considered 

 an expensive crop, but pasture is a necessity for dairy cows, 

 though looked upon as a necessary evil in the past. Sweet 

 clover has changed all this by making the land produce 

 six months pasture instead of two or three, while it cuts 



