Arizona state miner., 1926-08-28
GRASS FAILURES
SHRINK YIELDS

OF the failure of blue grass pasture,
it is estimated by w. ]. Fraser, dairy
farming specialist at the college Of
agriculture, University of Illinois.
This lack of feed, coupled with the
heat and flies, results in loss of
milk which continues, even II good
feed is supplied later in the year, be-
cause it is extremely difficult to get
cows back to- good production in the
same lactatiOn 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 practi-
cally One-half the year, and so is en-
titled to 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
80 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 it possible
tot IAra III aorr
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
muzzle Is inches wide and would have
to walk "A miles a day, cropping the
grass clean as she went like a 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 a great saving Of land.
as it requires only half as much
acreage per cow as is usually devoted
to blue grass. In addition, only
small acreage of other crops is neces-
sary to supplement it, willie blue grass
requires from an acre to an acre and
half of supplementary crops per
COW in addition to pasture in order
dry weather. 1t is evident that the
use of sweet clover pasture would
greatly lessen both the cost Of feed
and the labor on the farm during
midsummer.
I'm addition to this, it saves the
COWS energy, as she does not have
to forage over so large an area of
land nor keep working all day, as she
does in grubbing for blue grass. On
sweet clover pasture, she can fill up
In few minutes and lie down and
contentedly chew her cud.
1.-THE most successful management
of sweet clover pasture requires seed
ing it each year in the small grain.
The cattle begin in the spring on the
second years crop which comes on
early. They Craze on this until the
middle or last of August, when they
are turned on to the new clover in the
grain stubble, and use it until the lat
ter part of October. The old clover
and the new seeding are growing on
the farm each year, and the six
months pasture is partly from the
one and partly from the other. The
pasture requires but one years use
of the land, however, because a crop
of small grain is cut from the same
land on which the clover grows the
first year.
Sweet clover has not come to the
front as dairy pasture crop without
some objections. One of
these is that COWS will not eat it
readily. This is true if the clover has
become large and tough and the cows
have an abundance of other good feed, |
but not one of the 100 men 1 have had |
with in regard to
sweet clover pastures has had any
trouble getting his cows to eat 1t
freely after the first two or three days.
AS proof that sweet clover is rela-
lively palatable, one but needs to con-
slider the enormous amounts Of milk |
given by the cows pastured on sweet |
clover. To give such yields of milk a
cow must eat extremely large amounts |
of the pasture, which she would not |
do were it an unpalatable feed.
TROUBLES have been found and fail
ures have occurred in growing sweet |
clover and, for this reason many
imagine that sweet clover is q diff