The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1917-04-11
EXPERIMENTING IOWA PASTURE
DURING DRY MUM-rHS.

TIE pasture on Oh tie average Iowa
farm does not furnish sufficient feed
for. cattle during the dry summer
months With the present value of
land and price of feeds it is very i'm
pOrtant to carry the dairy COW over
this period as economically and with
AS little decrease in milk flow as pos
sible. To do this it has been found
to be profitable to keep more cattle
on each acre or cut down the acreage
for cows already in the herd and to
supplement the pasture by feeding
some green feeds such as corn silage
or soiling crops. 5g,y.
The question of which is the most
economical and practical, summer
silaEe or soiling crops, depends large
ly upon individual conditions. Silage
y il put up properly will keep almost in.
definitely and if there is q silo Of small
diameter on the farm this has it's adj
Vantage over sOiling crops. The prin'
cipal advantages being that it gives
greater yield per acre and does away
with the daily labor Of cutting and
getting these crops to the cows. When
there is no silo for this purpose, how
ever, some attention should be paid
q to the growing of soiling crops espe
cially upon high priced land. ID
Selling crops are crops sOwn from
l time to time to furnish food to be
fed In the green immature condition
Some dairymen have gone SO far as
to Keep the cows off the pasture en-
tirely and furnish all green feed in
this form. This system has not given
as good results as where the cows
were on pasture and supplemented by
their use. The man milking cows for
the greatest proft OIL high priced land
should grow some sOiliDg crops. e. The
farmer has access to no feed to slim
ulate milk production during the sum
mer months equal to some fresh, pal
atable, green feed providing 1t is made
up partly of some lcguminous plant.
The crops perhaps best adapted for
s0ilfng purposes under Iowa icOndi-
ttolis are alfalfa, mixture of oats and
Canadian field peas, amber fodder
cane. and the different cloyers.
The exact time of sowing the differ
Cnt crops will depend upon the sys-
TEN which is being followed. The
earliest available crop under Iowa
conditions Is the first cutting Of alfal-
Z Ia. This should be ready about the
middle OF June One OF the best crops
Z to follow this Is q mixture Of oats
and Canadian field peas sowed half
and half at the rate OF one and One-half
bushels OF each per acre. BY making
two seedlings in April, the first about
I the fifth and the second during the
third week, this should furnish green
feed continually from the middle Of
June until the middle of July. Red
clover should also be available dur
1 Ing. this time. This can be followed
BY amber fodder cane which should be
s0Wed during the first week or two
III. May at tho rate OF seventy pounds
per. acre. This amber cane gives a
very heavy yield ranging from IL to
4 20 tons per acre and should be avail
able during the last half OF July. For
August mixture Of fodder cane and
COW Dease sowed about May 18th at
tie rate OF thirty pounds of cane seed
to one bushel Of COW pea seed per
acre will furnish a good yield. This
can also be supplemented with the
third. crop of alfalfa.
z The above crops and dates mention
edI viii vary as to the locality, the
S6sSon and also upon the grass crops
already being grown. These will have