cut and fed
in the green form, as winter rye, oats and peas, and oats and vetches
grown together, millet in several varieties, grasses, perennial and
Italian rye, especially the latter, alfalfa, the medium red, the
mammoth, alsike and crimson clovers, corn of many varieties, and the
sorghums. Alfalfa, where it can be freely grown, is king among soiling
foods. Peas and oats grown together are excellent, the bulk being peas.
Corn is more commonly used, and in some sections sweet sorghum is given
an important place. The aim should be to grow soiling foods that will be
ready for feeding in that succession that will provide food through all
the summer and autumn. Soiling furnished by grains, grasses, and clovers
are usually fed in the stables or feed yards, and corn and sorghum are
usually strewn over the pastures, as much as is needed from day to day.

Where much soiling food is wanted from year to year, it would seem safe
to say that it can be most cheaply supplied in the form of silage. Even
when grass is abundant, cows will eat with avidity more or less of
ensilage well made. They should not be fed in winter more than 25 pounds
per animal per day, but the quantity needed is determined largely by the
condition of the pastures. Because of the less quantity of the silage
called for in summer, the silo that contains the silage should be of
less diameter than the silo that holds food for winter use, otherwise
the exposed silage will dry out too much between the times of feeding
it.

In autumn soiling foods may be fed with profit that are possessed of
less succulence than would suffice at an earlier period, as in the
autumn the pastures are usually more succulent than in the summer. Corn
may be fed at such a time with much advantage from the shock, and
sorghum that has been harvested may likewise be fed from the shock or
from the cocks. Pumpkins may be thrown into the pasture and broken when
fed.

Viewed from the standpoint of milk production, the legumes (clover, cow
peas, soy beans, etc.) must be assigned first rank. After these come
grain fodders, corn and sorghum fodders, and fodders from grasses,
suitable in the order named. Lowest of all is straw furnished by the
small cereals. Fodders when fed are not restricted in quantity as
concentrates are.

Among legumes, hay furnished by alfalfa, any of the clovers, cow peas,
soy beans and vetches, is excellent for producing milk when these are
cut at the proper stage and pr