Extract from 
Supplementary Feed Crops for 1935 
GEO. M. BRIGGS 
by courtesy of 
Extension Service of the College of Agriculture, The 
Grains and Mixtures for Hay 
Oftentimes a crop of oats, barley or wheat or mixtures 
of these crops, would be far more valuable cut as hay, than 
to go to the further expense of harvesting, binding twine 
expense, and labor of shocking, threshing, etc. This will 
depend upon the need for forage, and the price of small grain. 
To make the best quality hay any small grain can be cut 
any time from early blossom stage up to the time when the 
base of the plants are changing color. When the leaves are 
green the plant has more palatability. 
Corn (Field and Sweet) 
One of the cheapest and most dependable fodder plants for 
adverse conditions or questionable soils is corn. A surprisingly 
large amount of forage of fair quality can be had if it is 
handled before the leaves are all dried up and the stalks too 
mature. Thick plantings of half a bushel to the acre of corn, 
will give a fine tonnage of feed if cut in early stages of growth 
and put in small to medium sized shocks. Regular field corn 
cut a little on the green side and put in large shocks, produces 
large amounts of feed fed as shredded fodder; or out of 
the bundle. 
Sweet corn will provide a large amount of good food for 
dairy cattle, beef or sheep. Immediately after picking the ears 
for canning—or in smaller areas after snapping off early ears 
for stock—cut and put in small shocks. 
Root Crops Useful 
Root crops have proven their worth in the areas of question¬ 
able corn crops, or on farms with few cleared areas, and 
where more stock is needed than hay can be supplied for. 
Selections from carrots, mangels, turnips and rutabagas can 
be made but for yielding and keeping qualities, the ruta¬ 
bagas are preferred. Turnips (both cow horn and other 
tvpes) can be planted in small grains or in corn for fall feed. 
Mangels yield heaviest of all roots on well fertilized old soils, 
when prepared deep and thoroughly. Yields of from 15 to 18 
tons can be obtained with good seed bed, favorable soil, proper 
thinning and good care. Cheap storage can be provided by 
anyone. No crop offers more feed per acre than a good 
root crop. 
University of Wisconsin, Madison 
Rape—Valuable Crop for Late Feed 
Rape, seeded in grain or in corn at the last cultivation, 
offers large amounts of late feed when reasonable amounts 
of rainfall occur. This crop is excellent for young stock, sheep 
and hogs, but when used as dairy cow feed, the animals should 
be taken off from pasture two to four hours before milking, 
or the milk cooled immediately after milking to prevent odor 
or off taste of the milk. 
Sunflower Silage Ranks High 
Sunflowers are a very profitable crop for silage for cooler 
and shorter growing sections as in the extreme north or on 
low soils where sufficient growing days for corn are question¬ 
able, and where winter feed is likely to be scarce. Because 
of high yields, sunflower silage can be produced cheaper 
than corn silage. 
Sunflowers can be handled the same as corn. Plant in 
checks about corn planting time—4 to 6 stalks per hill; or 
in drill with seeds 6 to 10 inches apart; by cornplanter or 
by grain drill by clogging up some of the spouts to leave 
the cultivating distance desired. 
The crop is raised and can be cared for and handled at 
silo filling time just the same as corn. Sunflowers and corn 
can be planted together but are very awkward to handle. It 
is far better to plant a field of corn and another of sunflowers 
and mix them at silo filling time. 
Hays from timothy and mixed hay meadows are greatly 
improved by early cutting and fertilization. The early cutting 
makes for more palatability, higher protein and more leafiness, 
while the fertilization means increased yields of more diges¬ 
tible protein. 
Top dressing of timothy meadows with good barnyard 
manure is most commendable. New forms of cheap nitrogen 
fertilizers will probably play an ever increasing part on well 
established timothy meadows. 
It is essential that potash and phosphorous be sufficiently 
abundant in the soil so that the annual application of nitrogen 
may be productive of satisfactory results. This practice is 
but in its infancy; however, it may be applicable in some 
regions as an emergency measure, in quickly increasing the 
amount and quality of available forage. 
Use This 
Post Card 
For Seed Or Inoculation 
Orders 
Be sure to specify site and 
variety of inoculation required 
Cut out along dotted fine 
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