42 MISC. PUBLICATION 7 02, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



the productive capacity of the cows. The Tennessee cows were higher 

 producers by about 2,000 pounds. Several farmers interviewed for 

 this study stated that they would continue to feed grain to high-pro- 

 ducing cows. These two experiments seem to support the economic 

 wisdom of the practice. But just what is a high-producing cow? 

 At what point does it pay to feed grain ? 



New Systems of Forage Utilization on Southern Farms 



A few farmers in Southern States have gone all the way from farm- 

 ing systems that relied heavily on row crops, grain, and other con- 

 centrates to systems that depend almost wholly upon hay. pasture, and 

 other forage." Examples of this type are scarce and special condi- 

 tions about the farm or the operator set it apart from other farms. 

 Far more numerous and far more important perhaps, though not so 

 noticeable, are the thousands of farmers who have moderately stepped 

 up acreages of hay, pasture, and other forage or have adopted prac- 

 tices to increase yields of forage. Several farms on which the forage 

 and livestock feeding program is between the two extremes have been 

 visited and information collected that will help to determine how far 

 farmers generally may find it profitable to go toward more grassland. 

 Some of these notes on specific farms and detailed data for selected 

 farms are given in the pages that follow. 



FARM A 



Farm A, a dairy farm in Culpeper County, Va.. has been converted 

 completely to hay and pasture production within the last 10 years. 

 The number of cows milked, about 56, has not changed. But the 

 crop conversion has been from no alfalfa to 90 acres and from 20 acres 

 of corn and 30-35 acres of small grains to none of these crops. Fer- 

 tilization has been stepped up greatly. Feeding practices have been 

 altered considerably. 



Every acre of this farm is cleared and is in hay or pasture. Most of 

 it is Bucks-Davidson silty clay loam. About two-thirds of the farm 

 has a C slope, or 7 to 14 percent ; a fourth of the acreage has a B slope, 

 or 2 to 7 percent ; and the remainder is a T> slope, or 14 to 25 percent. 

 When the soil map was made in 1941, about a fourth of the acreage had 

 up to 25 percent of the topsoil gone, 25 to 75 percent was gone from 

 half of the farm, and more than 75 percent from the other fourth of 

 the acreage. 



The 281 acres support an average of 56 milk cows, 2 bulls. 30 heifers, 

 and 15 calves, with no other types of livestock on the farm. Cows graze 

 from April 1 to October 1 ; heifers and calves from April 1 to Novem- 

 ber 1. The 85 acres of permanent pasture used by 56 cows are in 

 4 fields and the cows are rotated each 2 weeks. Other pastures, about 

 50 acres, are used by heifers and calves. About 45 acres are in lespe- 

 deza for hay. Pastures are primarily mixtures of blue grass and white 

 or Laclino clovers. Supplementary summer pastures of sudan grass, 

 about 10 acres, are considered necessary but no attempt is made t© grow 

 a winter pasture because the operator thought it would not be a paying 

 proposition. In those years in which the sudan grass is not needed for 

 grazing, it is used for silage. The aftermath may then be grazed. 



As no corn is grown, silage is made from the first and part of the 



