Show I 1 LIVE LIVESTOCK STOCK ON reclamation PRO PROJECTS I 1 0 A am nv w afy za i T w y r r f ow F Z r r ak N i 5 te r 1 yi y i v v wy S y 4 T 4 v V IRRIGATED PASTURE ON BOISE reclamation PASTURE prepared by the united states depart ment of 0 agriculture it is becoming generally understood that live stock industries must be established on northern reclamation projects if the best agricultural development on those these areas is to be brought about in such development it I 1 Is recognized irrigated pastures must play fin an important part one of the chief advantages of the summer pasturing of live stock on irrigation projects is that during that period labor Is especially scarce scarce and costly on the reclaimed areas the proper management of irrigated pastures is outlined in a circular recently issued by the bureau of plant industry of the united states department of agriculture the information in the circular is based on experiments conducted during several years by federal and state agencies nt at the huntley mont 11 ont scottsbluff Scotts bluff neb and belle fourche S D field stations and at tile the gowing idaho experiment station by the university of idaho and on observations ions made during the past tour four years on 11 northern reclamation projects there is reason to believe that while the carrying capacity and methods followed vary on different farms under observation Nation with good management an acre of pasture will support two cows or their equivalent in other live stock from four to six months each year depending on the location of the project it also appears that under favorable local conditions and proper care the stock carrying capacity of these pastures could be in treaded somewhat from year to year profitable pastures farmers in the salt lake valley of utah have found that irrigated pastures are profitable on land which Is valued at an acre A dairy farmer in the snake river valley of idaho reports that his irrigated pasture carries three cows per acre the value of such pasturage can be stated in terms of hay replacement awo cows will consume approximately a ton of alfalfa hay each month if if this hay Is valued at 5 a ton the hay replacement value of itil an acre of irrigated pasture will be 5 a month the length of the pasture season varies from four to six months depending ding on the climatic conditions on the different projects hence the hay replace ment value of an acre of good pasture can be estimated at from 20 to 30 a year these hay bay replacement values would of course be greater when the price of hay exceeded 5 a ton in connection with this it is important to consider the fact that the use of pastures quires much less labor than the feeding of hay and that good pas ture is at least equal to it if not better than hay as feed tor for cows such returns as these fully justify the use of df some of the best land on the farm for cor irrigated pasture not all farmers who have tried irrigated pastures have obtained satisfactory results but in most cases the failures have been due to causes which might have been prevented one common error Is the belief that the pasture should occupy that part of the farm arm which does not produce satisfactory yields of farm crops many have attempted to produce pasture on shallow soil or land that Is rocky and unsuited for pasturage careless preparation of soil and poor seed are also common causes of failure low carrying capacity cipa city frequently Is due to the tact fact that only grasses are used whereas it Is desirable to include one or two clovers overstocking Over stocking particularly during the first year grazing when the soil is too wet and inadequate or improper irrigation are other explanations of lack of success preparing seedbed the circular devotes considerable attention to selection of locations tor for pastures preparation of the land the importance of using fertile and productive soil maling making provision for proper irrigation and proper preparation of seedbed under tile subject of the seedbed the author writes the seedbed should be carefully prepared and made firm and smooth so 0 o that a satisfactory stand can be secured it is ordinarily better to provide plenty of moisture in the soil before seeding time than to seed in a dry soil und and arril irrigate a to immediately afterwards this is true particularly of heavy soil on which a tough crust Is likely to form after in irrigation and interfere with the emergence of th alie e young plants on light sells however where the upper three or four inches dries out very rapidly it frequently que antly Is necessary nece ary to seed in dry soil and to irrigate immediately after seeding in such instances the use of tile the corrugation method of irrigation during the first year Is particularly desirable si and the land should be prepared accordingly pasture crop varieties pasture crops the publication li cation says there are arc in use in irrigated pastures a variety of crops in almost innumerable tru combinations in the great majority of cases however the best results are secured with a mixture ot one or more grasses and at least ono ona variety of clover sweet clover alone is used to some extent on a number ot of projects but no information has been secured which appears to warrant any general recommendation of this crop in preference to mixed grasses for irrigated pastures some cases of sweet clover bloat have been reported and it has not been possible to secure any reliable data showing that sweet clover has a high carrying capacity the use of alfalfa as a pasture crop for cattle or sheep cannot be recommended tori fon the northern projects because alfalfa so frequently causes loss from bloat on one of the projects 55 per cent of the cattle lost during the year 1915 1015 are known to have died from alfalfa bloat losses sustained by farmers and in the experiments of the office of western irrigation agriculture of the bureau of plant industry indicate that it is not safe to use even a small quantity of alfalfa seed in pasture mixture from the information t on at present available there seems to be no doubt that it is advisable to confine the selection of pasture crops to the grasses and clovers there Is little uniformity at present prent as to the kinds of grasses and clovers used some pastures contain only a single grass and no clover while others have as many as seven or eight grasses and two or three clovers the use of a single grass or several grasses without clover is considered inadvisable largely because of low carrying capacity the use of several grasses which have different habits of growth and different temperature requirements assures more nearly continuous growth throughout the season for example some grasses will grow better during cool weather or in times of water shortage than other grasses which on the other hand may make rapid growth when the temperature is high or when water Is abundant the two clovers most commonly used with the grasses are white and al sike sometimes one find and sometimes both being used difficulty occasionally results from clover bloat where trie tle clover has be been n seeded too heavily or where the conditions are especially favorable to its growth as they are on some of the projects where the pasture crops include several grasses and where not to exceed two pounds per acre of either clover seed is used the danger of bloat Is not likely to be serious in the selection of corl corps for irrigated pastures provision should always be made tor for variety and high carrying capacity and this necessitates the use of at least one clover and preferably more than one grass the bulletin then devotes several pages to pasture mixtures for various soils method of seeding irrigation and management |