MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



33 



grasses have a smaller percentage of it than immature 

 ones is a matter of small importance. We can get 

 portein more cheaply than by cutting immature grasses 

 for it, when by doing so we lose considerably in yield 

 and, perhaps, also in palatability. Especially in the 

 South and the Far West, where the ordinary feeds are 

 too rich in protein, is this conclusion not well founded. 

 Even in the Timothy Region proper we can get protein 

 in a more satisfactory way. 



The second and third facts (B and C above) are 

 closely related, and may be considered together. Care- 

 ful digestion experiments are not sufficiently numerous 

 to show definitely that timothy cut, say, when the seed 

 are in the dough stage, is decidedly less digestible than 

 when cut, say, just before bloom. But grant that 

 there is a difference; is it sufficient to compensate for 

 the smaller yield and lower palatability of the early 

 cut hay ? 



1 The fact is that old, experienced feeders and ha} 7 

 dealers almost invariably prefer timothy hay that has 

 been cut after the seed is pretty well formed. They 

 insist that stock like it better, and that it is a stronger 

 feed than ha}' cut earlier. There is a possibility that 

 investigators have paid too little attention to one of 

 the most, if not the most, important factors in deter- 

 mining the value of a given feed — namely, its palata- 

 bility. Considering the comparatively small variation 

 in the chemical composition of the same grass cut at 

 different stages, the most important question is not 

 how nutritious is a pound of it, but how much of it 

 will an animal eat. We are all well aware that a feed 

 has little value in most cases if stock will eat it only 



