28 CIRCULAR 863, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Station. The cows grazing sericea at Beltsville and at Green Ridge, 

 Mo., remained in good condition. Reports from farmers who have 

 fed sericea hay almost exclusively for 2 to 3 years emphasize 

 the fact that the stock, especially horses and mules, remained in 

 excellent condition. If the livestock industry is to be encouraged 

 in the South there should be a source of cheap hay. Sericea will 

 supply this on land too badly worn to be used profitably for 

 cultivated crops. 



SERICEA MEAL 



Sericea has been ground into meal and fed to dairy cows and 

 calves and is said to have given good results. One dairyman re- 

 ports that calves are less troubled with diarrhea when fed sericea 

 meal. One manufacturer of feeds is using it to some extent to 

 replace material of lower value in low-priced feeds. The protein 

 content of the sericea meal is higher than that of the material for 

 which it is substituted. Sericea meal is said not to have been 

 satisfactory for very young chicks but to be useful for older 

 ones and in one case the dry leaves are said to have been eaten 

 by laying fowls as readily as alfalfa leaves (23). 



SILAGE 



Sericea can be ensiled, and when ensiled with molasses the tan- 

 nin content of the silage is less than in hay made from plants cut 

 at the same stage of maturity. Only preliminary work has been 

 done by the Bureau of Plant Industry and by the Tennessee 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, but the results have been encour- 

 aging enough to warrant the following statement by Mooers (21) : 



Highly palatable sericea silage can be made by the so-called molasses 

 method, as devised for alfalfa and other legumes. A sample of silage made in 

 this way was found to be nearly tannin-free, which explains its superior palata- 

 bility. Sericea silage has much higher protein and mineral contents than corn 

 silage and would, therefore, appear to be more nutritious. 



Since the cost of raising sericea is very low, and nearly as much dry matter 

 is produced per acre as by a corn crop on the same land, sericea silage may 

 prove of great value to the livestock industry. 



A final conclusion on the value of sericea silage must await 

 adequate feeding trial. 



SERICEA FOR GRAZING 



Perhaps the most controversial subject in the entire problem of 

 the utilization of sericea is its use in grazing. Some farmers 

 and experiment-station workers have declared that cattle will 

 not graze sericea. On the other hand, there are accumulating 

 records of successful grazing extending to nearly every State 

 from the Atlantic coast to Oklahoma. The fact is that sericea 

 has been grazed with good results but that some cattle refuse it. 

 Cattle also refused sweetclover when it first became common in 

 the Corn Belt. It is probably true that sericea is not so palatable 

 to: some kinds of livestock as young grass, clover, or annual les- 



