SORGHUM PASTURE FOR DAIRY COWS

New Zealand Mail, 22 January 1902, Page 54

SORGHUM PASTURE FOR DAIRY COWS

Tiie following extracts from a K I sas bulletin on sorghum 1 dairy con s should be read with £ i 0! 1 by all dairymen:—On July Ist seven milch cows were <nven aHm l, i cerno hay they Trould°cat“ 1 /1 turned into a sorghum field of 07, ? I for lifteen minutes. The sonrt?,',, a I from 18in to 24ft high. The next T* I they remained thirty minutes the«7?l clay forty-five minutes, and’so « th g| creasing nfteen minutes daily until tl, I reached one hour 30inin, when t!? were left to run at will. Durian, 7 1 transition period, the cows all the lucerne lmy needed to keef I the normal flow of milk. F or th p , u | 1 I , ii, ? f e days tnis amounted to nearlv ojii P daily per head. After twelve days [ cows were allowed to pasture the 1 gfium at night as well as during the 1 For the rest of the month these J 1 consumed less than 51b of lucerne h daily per head. If it had not been! the sorghum pasture it would have ri enured at least 241 b of lucerne hay daih per head to keep these cows up to j good flow of milk. This would nan amounted to ten tons. As it was, the cows have consumed only 4} tons mat mg a saving of 54 tons. On August hi the cows were turned into a fresh fieldH of sorghum from 3ft bin to sft high, fi but with the same precautions as nenß exercised on July Ist. This time it ®| not take as long to get them on full feed, and after the first week they lialH full access to the sorghum day an® night. The two fields of sorghum arH connected with each- other, and tlieg cows not only have access to both fields,® hut in getting to the second field are 1 obliged to pass through the first, sfe 1 the second growth sorghum is ma%i 1 vigorous start after the recentfli. S I p to the present writing the hefiks I not experienced the least particle d I trouble from poison, or even bloating. 1 During the time the Kansas Station ft has been pasturing sorghum, continues Professor Otis, several reports have tea received of cattle dying in ten or fifteen minutes from the time they entered the sorghum patch, but in every case where we have been able to get the details, the cattle have eaten the sorghum on empty or nearly empty stomachs. Cattle should have their stomachs so well filled that they feel completely 7 satisfied be- I fora touching the green sorghum, and then allowed to eat only a few minutes at a time, until they are accustomed to it. If sorghum can be pastured successfully, as has been done by the Kansas Experiment Station, it means that the dairymen and stockmen can get an immense amount of pasture from a small area which is available at a time when their other pastures are getting short and dry. Pasturing will also be the most economical way of utilising sorghum. The man that turns bis cattle into _a sorghum field, however, Jj®* i realise that lie may be taking ' He must weigh the evidence against its use, and then decide foAy'j self whether the benefits will outwo? I the risks. I

Some time ago, as our readers miyijmember; we stated that a French! 11 Garnault, had offered himself as anf 1 ' periment to prove whether or not bo s ® tuberculosis was communicable to ® 9s ' It seems that his offer has now been *. cepted, and the test is to be , s { )o fJ made. After being inoculated with erculosis bacilli, lie will immediately gin a tuberculous diet. For the spa<* a year lie is to drink milk that is w. as rich as possible in tuberculous ba®, which is to be analysed every fort®® to ensure its satisfying that re9 u . inent. Every two months, to inane surance doubly sure, he is to be m lated with a virulent culture of t ... culous bacilli, the forces of which have been tested upon calves, u the expiration of a year of this t ment, Dr Garnault is not consrnnp ,' lie will conclude, lie says, ‘ that , the conditions in which he was p , bovine tuborculosis is, at any rate ’ «p r easily communicable to man. Kocli,” he remarks in conclusion, * firms with perfect serenity that 1 come ont of the ordeal quite un Yh eJ ed.” No experiment of modern - will he watched with rnore mterc ■ % A crossbred cow at the recent of Show’, Victoria, gave 79Jlh of 119 nearly eight gallons, at two m * yielding at the rate of 20Jlb of b“« e ‘ per week.