Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1926-08-19
DAIRY
FACTS
GRASS FAILURES
SHRINK YIELDS

NIne-tenths Of the COWS Ia the Mid.
die West suffer from lack OF feed
some time during the summer. because
OF The failure of blue grass pasture.
il is estimated by W. J. Fraser, dairy
farming specialist at the college OF
agriculture. University of Illinois.
This lack Of feed. coupled with the
heat and flies. results in a loss Of
milk which continues, even If good
feed is supplied later In the year, be-
cause II is extremely difficult to get
cows back 10 good production In the
same laetatton period after they have
once fallen In milk flow. The growing
Of sweet clover instead OF blue grass
for dairy pasture would solve this
feed shortage. which Fraser says Is
one Of the serious troubles In dairy
farming throughout the Middle West.
"A good productive pasture supplies
the feed FOR dairy herd for practl-
cally one-half the year, and so is en-
titled 10 as much consideration as all
the other crops. combined. that make
up the winter half Of the ration How
ever, the value OF really good pas
ture Is little realized on most farms.
Blue grass is the kind of pasture com.
monty used and during dry weather
this crop becomes practically worth
less. In tests made by the agricultural
college, there were two seasons when
30 acres of blue grass afforded scarce
ly enough pasture for one COW. Not
only would "a great acreage have to be
provided In order to make Il possible
for COW to maintain her milk dow on
such a pasture, but also the COW
would have TO be endowed with GER
tain characteristics as yet unknown
TO dairy cattle. She would need a
muzzIe Is Inches wide and would have |
to walk "a miles a day. cropping the |
grass clean as she went like u lawn
mower run by gas engine, In order |
to get her full feed
absurd as may be the mental pic
ture Of such a gaunt. broad-visaged |
animal, she would be just the ideal
type of COW for our blue grass pas
lures in the Middle West where sum
mer drOughts are so frequent and Sc
we're. For this reason, dairymen must
set to work to breed this kind Of COW
or find other more productive and de-
pendable pasture than blue grass The
latter is, no doubt. the more practicable.
THE growing OF sweet clover pas
ture results In great saving OF land.
as it requires only half as much
acreage per COW as Is usually devoted
to blue grass. In addition, only a
small acreage OF other crops is neces-
sary to supplemental, while blue grass
requires from an acre to an acre aud
q half of supplementary crops per
COW In addition to pasture in order
that sufficient feed be supplied during
dry weather II is evident that the
use Of sweet clover pasture would
greatly lessen both the cost Of feed
and the labor on the farm during
In addition to this. II saves the
cows energy. as she does not have 4,
to forage over so large an area OF /,
and nor keep working all day, as she
does In grubbing for blue grass. On :
sweet clover pasture, she can All up
ID a few minutes and lie down and !,
chew her eud. :
1.-THE most successful management /,
# sweet clover pasture requires seed
ng Il each year In the small grain.
rhe cattle begin In the spring on the I
econd years crop which comes on
,arly. They Craze on this until the
middle or last of August, when they
ire turned on to the new clover In the 8
rain stubble. and use 1t until the lat = :,
err part OF October The old clover :,
nd the new seeding are growing on :.
he farm each year. and the six .
lonths, pasture Is partly from the - :.
ne and partly from the other. The =,
ASSURE requires but one years use
( the land, however, because crop >,
( small grain Is cut from the same =
Ind on which the clover grows the n
rst year. n
sweet clover has not come to tie &,
-ont as a dairy pasture crop without -
some objections. One OF n,
lese Is that cows will not eat Il 81
sadIIy. This is true II the clover has M
-lOulE difu Nybbh HF
ave an abundance Of other good feed, de
1t not one Of the 100 men ! have had on
with In regard to tb,
geet clover pastures has had any
ouble getting his cows to eat II
eely after the first two or three days.
5 proof that sweet clover Is rela-
vely palatabIe. one but needs to con- mi
der the enormous amounts OF milk are
ven by the cows pastured on sweet Go
over. To give such yields Of milk On
" must eat extremely large amounts me
the pasture. which she would not mil
were II an unpalatable feed Of
Troubles have been found and fall ioI
ea have occurred In growing sweet mil
over and, for this reason. many Of
agine that sweet clover is a diff wal
It and uncertain crop to produce" the
Prepared Calf Meal