36 



BULLETIN 1405, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



the gains made by lamb or calf, it is evident from the condition of 

 animals that subsist entirely on very young herbage that, for the 

 greatest food value, forage must not be " watery." The moisture 

 content of leafage earty in the spring — say 10 days or so after 

 growth has started — is found to be higher than that of young leaf- 

 age which develops later in the season, in some instances being as 

 high as 85 per cent. At the beginning of spring growth in some 

 localities livestock losses have resulted from (1) the green feed being 

 sparse and containing only a small amount of " body " and nutri- 

 ment, and (2) stock grazing little but the green leafage once they 

 had a fair sample of the new growth. 



A 1,000-pound animal that is not subjected to work or exercise 

 in procuring his feed, as one maintained in a stall or corral, requires 

 approximately 16 pounds of air-dry roughage, such as good hajr, 

 every 24 hours as a maintenance ration — that is, a ration ample 

 merely to maintain, not to increase, his weight. When the young 

 feed is short, as, for instance, during the first two weeks after 

 growth begins, it is necessary for an animal to travel over a large 

 area to gather the required 80 pounds or so of this succulent leafage 

 or the equivalent of 16 pounds of air-dry hay. Often an animal, 



Moisture 

 Conient 



lol 

 (b) 

 ic) 



Fig. 13. — Moisture content varies with, age of foliage. Average 

 moisture content of herbage of violet wheat grass harvested (a) 

 once in a season; (6) twice in a season, and (c) four times in a 

 season. 



especially a cow poorly wintered, can not gather enough of the 

 young growth early in the spring to remain in thrifty, serviceable 

 condition. (PL I.) In some .cases such an animal can not even 

 gather enough to tide her over the period of recuperation. 



The moisture content of the forage of such typical and import- 

 ant species as mountain brome, Letterman needle grass, and violet 

 wheat grass is remarkably uniform for a given season or for a 

 particular stage of plant development. Figure 13 shows the aver- 

 age moisture content of a large number of forage samples of violet 

 wheat grass recorded for three years in succession (1916-1918). The 

 plants were harvested (1) once in a season, at the time of seed 

 maturity; (2) twice in a season, 6 and 10 weeks, respectively, after 

 the beginning of growth; and (3) four times in a season, at monthly 

 intervals, the first cut being made four weeks after the growth had 

 started. It is interesting to note that at the time of seed maturity 

 the moisture content averaged 41 per cent. Plants harvested twice 

 in a season, the first herbage removal being six weeks after growth 

 had started, contained an average proportion of moisture of 54 

 per cent. In contrast to these data, plants cut four times in a season 

 contained an average of 79 per cent of water. 



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