Cut-Over Pine Lands in the South. 45 
It must also be borne in mind that the grazing is the best when the 
cattle are first turned on the pasture and- gradually dwindles to 
nothing. This condition is always true in grazing velvet beans and 
is the opposite of what it should be for fattening cattle. For main- 
taining cattle the ration should be constant, with a limited quantity 
of concentrate and all the roughage they will eat. 
In an experiment at Collins, Miss., which has been previously 
mentioned, 78 head of mature cattle exhausted a 40-acre field of 
velvet beans in 28 days. It is evident that no measure of the yield 
of beans could be taken, but the estimated average of 500 pounds 
per acre was below the estimate of farmers accustomed to having 
beans picked from the field by the hundredweight. With an average 
of 500 pounds to the acre this field contained 20,000 pounds of 
beans, and if the beans were all consumed without waste the aver- 
age daily ration of beans was 9.1 pounds a head. This ration was 
about right for fattening cattle but was excessive for breeding cows, 
and the cows made an average daily gain of 1.25 pounds a head. 
From this experiment conclusions were drawn as follows: 
In view of the scarcity of labor and the high cost of picking beans the 
pasture furnished economical feed for fattening cattle. However, it would 
not appear profitable to turn stock cattle on velvet-bean fields yielding more 
than 500 pounds an acre unless they could be allowed to run on the field 
a short period each day, as the beans would be less efficiently used than if 
picked and hand fed. 
Where beans make a heavy yield, stock cattle should be turned 
on the field only 1 or 2 hours each day, depending on the ease with 
which the cattle can get a fill of beans. Late in winter and in 
spring the bean leaves and stalks do not supply roughage enough 
and some other roughage, such as the grass remaining on the range, 
should be fed as a filler. A reserve supply of beans should be picked 
to feed when the bean pastures fail, which usually happens when 
the cows are heavy with calf and need feed the most. 
Velvet-bean pasture may be used economically for fattening cattle, 
but steers should be removed when the pastures begin to fail, and 
should be kept on heavy feed until finished for market, leaving the 
remaining beans in the field to be cleaned up by stock cattle. 
The only method of completely utilizing the velvet-bean crop for 
winter feed is to ensile it. This clears the field in time to plant a 
cover crop of rye for winter and spring grazing; the carrying ca- 
pacity of a given acreage in feed crops may be doubled or trebled 
in this manner. By planting the early maturing varieties of beans 
which do not make a heavy vine growth the crop may be handled 
fpr silage without excessive labor. 
The velvet bean is so valuable as a feed that it should be utilized 
to the fullest extent. Production of the bean crop at a very low cost 
