The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-08-25
Feeding Value of Miilet.

Millet is perhaps the most generally
grown of annual grasses and forage
plants. Still there are many localities in
which judicious use of this plant would
materially increase the possibilities for
stock production. For this reason tn.
department Of agriculture has published
pamphlet on millets, by Thomas A. Will
liams, from which we use an excerpt on
its uses and feeding value:
Millet is fed principally as hay and
soiling crop. AS will be seen from the
chemical analyses. the forage ranks well
with that of other grasses in the nutritive
| content, and it's palatability is about that
of the average for the coarser sorts. For
dlgestlbility, millet forage compares IA
vorably with that from other coarse
grasses.
Already widely grown as a hay crop,
mlllets deserve more general use for soil
ing. They are particularly valuable for
feeding to dairy cattle, young stock and
sheep. There are many sections of the
country where this crop can be made to
supplement the pastures in such a way
as to allow a material increase in the
number Of stock that can be kept on the
farm.
The use Of millet as an element in an
nual pastures may we'll receive greater
attention from farmers in sections where
Such varieties as Hungarian and common
millet, which "sprUut from the root"
well, are best to sow for pasturage. Some
of the Korean varieties may prove valu-
able for this PURPOSE. There are few Of
the annual GRASSES better adapted for use
in pastures Is: iShaeR And CALVES may be
suits. 1t would be we'll to mix some
other crop, like field peas, with the millet,
or to allow the animals to run on field
of clover, rape; or some such crop for a
portion of the time.
On account of the heavy yield of for
age and the good quality of the product
millets are excellent grasses for use III
the silo. Frequently good crop of mil
let can be raised under conditions which
would not admit Of growing corn for en-
sling, and in such instances becomes of
especial value.
The seed of the foxtail millets is wide
ly used as food for fowls and birds, but
is seldom fed to stock. 1t has, however,
been used in feeding young stock, such as
calves, with a fair degree of success. 1t
should never be fed without first being
ground or crushed, as otherwise only a
portion is masticated and digested, and
the rest is lost. The seed is an ex-
cellent food for laying hens
The seed for broom-corn millet has won
greater favor in this country as food
for stock than that of either the foxtail
or barnyard millets. 1t has been fed to
swine and young cattle with very salts
factory results, and is regarded as an ex-
cellent substitute for corn for use in pre-
pairing animals for market. The name
'hog millet,' so commonly applied in the
West and Northwest, was given because
of the fact that the seed WAS thought
to be so we'll adapted for feeding hogs.
AS with other millets, the seed makes a
good poultry food, and it forms large
part of the various birdseed mixtures Of
fered in the market The broom corn
millets are better adapted for human food
than any other millets grown in this
country.-Farm and Fireside.