Show FORAGE CROPS F go WES HS by L A MERRILL director exten slon ion division utah agricultural college arec oregon on short line railroad nat troad demonstration pu on train lecture continued from last lait week the soiling system there are a great many people jn ln this country who have come coma to the conclusion that ahat the soiling system offers many advantages over pastures I 1 hive have had considerable ie experience per peri ence tence with soiling crops and have become entirely converted to ito tho tact fact that thero Is a place in our western agriculture culture for this athla system of husbandry BY Sol soiling llull we mean growing a constant consta nt oi of crops cutting them and feeding to the animals in an inclosure the advantages I 1 claimed for this system over pastur ago are numerous I 1 it t ls la claimed that it saves land 2nd and saves save fences 3rd ard saves food dui results in bettor better I 1 gill BH boj borao Po rao alaoui oia pau pas farm animals ath a greater production of obe beef ef milk wool or mutton fth quality and quantity of barnyard manure tho the disadvantages fire are that it requires ulies acre increased ased labor on our small irrigated farms farmie however there Is no question but bat that the increased profit more than campen compensates pen ven sates for the extra labor clr IL II stewart who has had many years of experience in boiling says that spent ial a extra labor by this tern tem Is replaced ten times over in the saving of land saying saving of at feed and savins saving of manure there la Is no reason why the farmer should object to the extra labor when there Is found to be a profit in it it la is rarely that a man accumulates wealth from the labor of his own hands some of our western farmers have tried this system and have found that the soiling system gives even better results here than in the eastern section this is due to the fact that in the east lack of moisture may at critical times seriously retard ane grow growth th of plants while here under irrigation moisture m can be applied at any time desired some years ago I 1 made mada an expert experiment with the soiling system tn in salt lake county it may seem somewhat surprising to say that the product of two acres ot at ground proved to maintain 12 dairy cawte train from the of may until the eth of october it should be added however that these cows ate tn in addition to the feeds suggested sted here some alfalfa and each had a da dally ily grain ration varying from four to eight pounds the following soiling crops were used and the time of sowing is shown as well as the time of cutting the dally daily teed feed per cow and the average required tor for 12 cows 0 t 21 01 CT 40 0 P al pa t 0 01 es cd cd c cd g ID sh s 0 ogo 8 ID 0 3 B a Q cd t a 3 el c a a oj 0 ri 2 li aej acy I 1 d tn co d t 11 1 1 rt r rn 4 rn MO rn to oam va d 10 0 01 2 CJ 0 S 4 fis s S S S d 0 A Q W tooma ooch 3 ca M WM to 2 a 93 a N ta a ort S i 0 t t 6 s u 9 3 3 P 3 0 assa 1 4 11 SS 6 AMI AM 4 I a D t 0 0 ad 0 S J t a 11 t b bb b 1 a 3 4 ago a a AM 3 Q v a a ada 4 2 5 00 ii 0 P sni R a 11 1 14 1 mm ba H 0 ta 0 3 3 3 Is E E E 0 Q w 94 A M 0 2 5 go am u 1 IP a A 0 aa A 93 r J 0 cs d i 4 cd al 00 in 4 W 0 0 I 1 a 0 0 w a a W a P W afa A alic 44 ai i fe fc 2 H 41 3 5 na U 0 0 0 C cd E 11 d 1 0 D 0 a M ca 2 a 0 1 QS boo aci as ed a u j M Is id ina M rf 3 aa M 1 d a 0 a d 4 4 3 4 4 aj jy 0 oo 00 0 ft 0 A 44 A N 0 A 4 M U 0 P pa or it will bo be seen that some of the land produced as aa much as two and even eve n three crops plat A lor or instance town own to fall rye on sept had bad the crop entirely removed by june 1 this plat was immediately irrigated plowed and seeded to peas and batley barley plat B produced three crops of alfalfa plat 0 seeded to peas and oats on ga april it 1 had bad the crop re removed moved by june 25 and on june 30 after having been and irrigated was again seeded tn peas and barley these crops were cut every other morning and a rack tn in the corral filled there being out aut teed feed to last tor for two days dry also always left in tho the alfalfa a was manger under the shed abed and the cows cowa ate during tha th season between two and three tons of hay we beleva that we have in this system solved the problem of at the small farm it has bal been argued la in the past that for successful dairy practice a 06 largo large acreage was necessary we believe that we have demonstrated with this experiment that this Is not essential there can be no possible objection to using the same land ladd over byor and oyei avei agon again during the samo season it if care be taken to replenish the elements which are taken out by the crops these cows cowe are kept in close con tho the manure la Is carefully conserved and returned to the soli boil we do not claim for this system that it la Is a new practice repeated experiments havo have been made in other e r states notably wisconsin on this subject and with excellent results we wash w ish also to refer you to thi the channel islands In lands guernsey and jersey the island ol of jersey Ss is 27 miles long v and four foai to seven miles ide it has basa a population of and has forty to alft fifty thousand visitors an dually the average size of tho the farm is f eight acres and there are now 10 acres farmed on this lamountt of farming land they ther are keeping approximately head of jAra JAr eya says and 2500 head of horses harses approximately head of live stock supported from acres of land or 1 A head bead to bevry accent acre of tarm farm all the cattle are soiled tho the year I 1 round except the co cows wa for milk which are tethered tet heredi these jersey farmers are the most scientific farm era in the world they make enormous profits from their land and I 1 believe tills this Is due dua largely to the soiling I 1 system in speaking in aon specific terms rega regarding riling these soiling crops I 1 desire to make a plea particularly for a few of them rye la Is less lesa sensitive to cold than wheat and its vegetation Is more rapid it makes a vigorous growth early in the spring and by may 15 on an average farm in the west cutting can be under way I 1 would recommend that the seeding be rather heavy at least it 1 to I 1 bushels per acre alfalfa of course Is the king icing of all forage crops there Is no question as to its adaptability to our western soils it la is almost a perfectly balanced food tn in itself and la Is an ideal crop in the soiling system I 1 havo have fou found nd however that when it comes to a question of the very lest best soiling golling rations for producing the greatest amount ot of milk there Is no forage crop that excels peas and batse bowns together sow as early in the spring as the ground will permit and begin cutting just as soon as the oats begin to head out and the peas have well grown pods I 1 have had tul ful experience in seeding these theao at the rate of va 1 bushels to the acre acra each drilling the oats oata one way and cross drilling with the peas the peas should lo be put tn in deeper than the oats there are some farmers in salt lake county who feel that peas and oats are more profitable as a forage crop than alfalfa and since experimenting with this crop have decided that the alfalfa weevil bal has no terrors for them it will be observed that when seeding peas and oats oata the second seeding Is made ten tea days after the first simply so ao that we may have the crop in right condition for feeding it allowed to stand too long the crop is not palatable co corn rn of course should be sowed bowed thick tho the most convenient way of planting la Is with the grain drill so BO arranged as to drop a kernal every four to six inches and in rows about 18 inches apart barley Is planted with peas in a later seeding not because barley Is any better than oats but simply because it thrives so much better in the dry hot part of the season than does oats there are a great many other crops that are used for soiling purposes tn in other sections of the country such auch ns na winter vetch cow peas saja beans etc but these crops do not seem to thrive well under the tIl climatic matic conditions prevailing hero here I 1 do not mean to infer that dairy cattle are the only aTtl nals that can be successfully put under the soiling system it la Is just as feasible to volt coll horses or sheep as it Is cattle I 1 believe too that this system works as aa well on cheap land as on high priced lands the system Is an excellent application or of the idea ot of a small well tilled etc 0 o it is ray my firm con conviction that nowhere in the world will a soiling system work to better advantage than right hero here in the irrigated valleys of the west |