The Sidney herald., 1960-04-20
Green Grass and Livestock

Green Grass and Livestock
Green grass is a welcome sight
TO all of us after a long winter. 1t
is the first indication that new life
is springing up all around the
countryside.
To the stockman, green grass is
an especially welcome sight as he
knows it provides the extra tonic
needed for the calving and lamb
ing season. 1t, of course, also
means the end of the long winter
feeding season for many who have
a good carry-over of old grass
I along with the new. The value of
green grass this time c" the year,
however, is often over-estlmated.
One must remember that 1T con-
tains a lot of water. and tits i'm
possible for animals to eat enough
green grass by itself to supply the
necessary total nutrients needed.
That is the reason we recommend
extra experimentation of hay and
grain unless there is a good supply
of last years grass which will sup
ply the needed carbohydrates.
What, then, does early green grass
have that acts as a tonic even
though it is lacking in total diges-
tible nutrients? For one thing, it
has an abundance of carotene
which is transformed into active
vitamin A by cattle and sheep. An
added shot of this all-important
growth and milk production vi
tamin is extra precious after a
11z~ Nxx.~41. ,@n~iD1 IN Irxy foods
which tend to be low in carotene.
Also green grass is high in dig
estible protein which is also a
must for proper growth and milk
production.
It must be remembered, then,
that green grass up to around the
first of June is not enough in it
self. A small amount of grain or
hay will supply the extra carbohy-
drates needed if your range lacks
a good carry-over of old grass.
This will keep your COWS or eve
from going down hill and will
keep them up in milk production
until the time when the new
] growth is higher in total digestible
nutrients and contains less water.
Proper nutrition at this time of
the year will go a long way in
/ determining weaving weights this
fall.
: Have You Considered
Performance Testing?
A technique which many live
stock producers are now putting
into practice to improve the pro-
duction of their herds or flocks is
Performance Testing. In many
areas of the country it is becoming
a common practice with beef cattle
and is just getting started in the
sheep industry.
Performance testing of beef
cattle is based mainly on research
| work which has been conducted
over a period of years at the us
Range Livestock Experiment
Station at Miles City. Research
workers at the Miles City Station
\ have found that several important
characteristics are highly inherit
ed and can be quite accurately
measured. AS a result of this work
many ranchers are now cullinl
I their herds on the basis of record!
obtained. Also, many feeders art
starting to purchase feeders calve:
on the basis of performance re,
cords.
I Four purebred breeders in The
Sidney area r now carrying OF
q performance testing under thu
supervision of the Montana Bee
4 Cattle Performance Registry AS
ISOLATION. They are the O'Briel
D Hereford Ranch, Gartner and Den
Y own Angus Ranch, Kenneth Dor,
4 Hereford Ranch, and Don Coutt
d Angus Ranch.
. For more information on tn
subject, we suggest you pick up
q copy of Montana Extension Ser
y vice Circular 267 entitled BIGGEI
BETTER, MORE, CALVES. w
4 have a good supply of this circula
q available here at the office. 1t Wi
q serve as a very good guide Shout
7 you be considering embarking o