SUDAN GRASS AND RELATED PLANTS. AT 
mately 22 head of sheep per acre and produced gains of about one- 
third pound a day during the pasture period. ' This flock of sheep was 
composed of 16 lambs and 6 ewes. The land was irrigated before 
seeding the grass but not afterwards. The field was pastured inter- 
mittently from July 24 to October 29, and 2.32 tons per acre of hay 
were obtained in addition to the pasturage. 
As a pasture on irrigated lands Sudan grass probably ranks next 
to alfalfa, and has an advantage over the latter crop in not causing 
bloat in cattle and sheep, as alfalfa sometimes does. At the Yuma 
experiment farm, Bard, Calif., in the summer of 1915, a field of 
Sudan grass maintained an average of three head per acre of work 
horses and milk cows over a period of six months. The field was 
divided in halves and the halves pastured alternately in periods of 
two to three weeks. The grass was irrigated in each case as soon as 
the stock were removed and left unpastured until the ground became 
firm and the growth was 4 or 5 inches high. | 
A comparison of Sudan grass with Dallis grass (Paspalum dilatatum) 
on the Murrumbidgee irrigation areas of New South Wales is also of 
interest (8, p. 14). Cows to the number of 28 which had been 
erazing on the Dallis grass were transferred to a field of Sudan grass, 
with the results shown in Table XV. 
TasLteE XV.—Comparison of the milk and butter produced daily by 28 cows when graz- 
ing on Sudan grass and on Dallis grass. 
Daily production (pounds). 
Kind of pasture. j 
Milk. | Butter fat. (Commercial 
Sudanlerasszay yess pk eee = rin AAS Cee ORE ey x Ried acc re igs ie ened 574. 28. 24 34. 50 
DD) BUTTS ETASS pe ep eh ee eatery ie dt isa sean Ae ee Ses 518 24. 03 28.31 
Although the cows pastured the Sudan grass later in their lactation 
period than they did the Dallis grass, the results showed an increase 
of 56 pounds of milk and 4.21 pounds of butter fat, or 6.19 pounds 
of butter, in the daily output of the 28 cows when they were changed 
from the Dallis grass to the Sudan grass. The records were made just 
before the cows were taken off the Dallis grass and again after they 
had been on the Sudan grass two weeks. 
In addition to the foregoing experiments some very conclusive re- 
sults have been obtained by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment 
Station in pasturing milk cows on Sudan grass (5). An upland field 
containing 5.4 acres was seeded to this grass on June 6, and 6 Hol- 
stein cows, which had previously been fed on alfalfa hay, silage, and 
grain, were turned into the field on July 10. The grass was then 3 
or 4 feet high, lack of labor preventing the inauguration of the experi- 
ment earlier, when the grass was at the proper height for pasturing. 
