AN IMPORTANT MATTER.

Southland Times, Issue 19458, 24 January 1925, Page 13

AN IMPORTANT MATTER.

WHEN IS GRASS BEST? Few cattle men seem to realise the great difference in the composition of young immature grass and the same gri» at maturity. Young grass is richer in protein than mature grass, but a larger total yield per acre, both of protein and carbohydrates, is obtained when the grass is mature. As an example of the relative yields of pasture and hay, Henry and Morrison quote an experi- ; ment by Crozier. He cut growing pasture ’ eight times from a measured plot, while [ on another he cut it and cured it into hay j after it had made full growth. The hay from the frequently cut grass was about, three times as rich in crude protein as that from the nearly mature grass, but almost four times as much total dry matter, and also the greatest total yield of protein was secured when the grass was approaching maturity. Herein lies the explanations to why men get such good results from resting paddocks. Explained, too, is the rewon why a little corn meal, fed to cows on immature pasture, gives satisfactory returns.