Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1885-07-04
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
What a Pasture Should Be.

Utmost parts of the world the pasture
isthe main reliance of persons who keep
cattle and sheep, as well as young
horses. With many these animals only
pay their way when they are turned
out to grass. They do not gain suffi-
GENTLY during the winter to pay the
cost of the food they eat and the care
they require. Few farmers produce
milk during the winter at profit. Few
dairy farmers expect to make money
except during the aeason when the feed
in the pastures is good. The pasture
is the sanitarium for all kinds of farm
animals that are out of condition. A
horse that has been losing flesh all win
ter is expected ''to pick up as soon as
it is turned into the pasture. The
expectations are generally realized.
Animals that have recently dropped
young will recover their strength after
they have been in good pasture a few
weeks. In this climate lambs are very
likely to die if they come before the
grass starts in the spring. 1t seems to
be necessary for making milk, which
is their first food. Lambs born in
April and May generally live and do
well. The pasture,if it is good one,
combines everything that is essential
for securing health and steady gain in
weight. 1t is the mainsource of wealth
to the average farmer
Still the average farmer neglects his
pasture more than he does any
other portion of his place. He devotes
the poorest land to the production of
grass that is to be eaten in it's green
state. He takes little or no pains to
improve it. He allows the best grasses
to disappear, and sows no seed with a
view OF replacing them. He allows
weeds and bushes to spring up
and multiply. He gives no attention
to anything about it except the fence.
He often expresses surprise that his
pasture does not carry as much stock
as it did when he first enclosed it.
That its feeding capacity has, declined
should be no marvel to him.. He has
not exerted himself to keep up the
fertility of the soil, to Introduce new
forage plants, and to prevent the disap-
pearence of old ones. The dung
dropped by cattle during the day has
generally accumulated in the places
where the animals congregate when
they are not feeding, and has never
been scattered as it should have been.
The drippings of the cattle at night,
when they are in the shed near the
barn, have been hauled into the cult
waited fields. A decline in productive
ness might reasonably be expected
under such circumstances.
A large growth of grass and clover
can not be expected from land that is
in a poor mechanical condition or
which is lacking in the elements of
fertility. This is not expected in a
meadow, and should not be in a
pasture. Land that will not produce
a good swath of mown grass the LIST of
July, if stock is kept off from it, will
not afford good pasture during any
month of the year. A pasture should
produce as much grass as field that
is mown for the purpose of securing
the winter food for cattle. The plants
should be as vigorous and in much
greater variety. A tolerably extensive
pasture should contain red, white and
Swedish clover. It should also CON
tain the grasses usually grown in
meadows and several others that ary
not profitable to raise for hay chiefe
on account of the difficulty in cutting
and curing them. A good grass for
hay is one like timothy, which natures
at definite time. Timothy is good
pasture grass, but it can not be de-
pended on during the entire season.
Some grasses are wanted that afford
earlier than timothy, and some that
will afford food much later. The
greater the variety of grass and clover
the more constant will be the supply of
food.
Animals in pasture need to drink
as well as eat. They do not require a
variety of beverages as they do of
foods, but they require an abundance
OF water, and it is essential that it be
pure and fresh. Mineral substances,