OCR Text |
Show GOOD LEGUME HAY VERY ESSENTIAL Soy Beans Can Be Used in Emergency for Cows. Legume hay Is practically a necessity neces-sity in producing milk at the lowest possible cost, asserts C. L. Blackman. extension specialist in dairying for the Ohio State university. And the dairy farmer who fears that he will run short of clover or alfalfa hay for his herd, need not be without a good legume hay. "Soy beans can be used in an emergency emer-gency to supply the necessary legume hay," says Blackman. If the beans are sowed early In June or Immediately Immedi-ately after corn planting they will usually be ready to cut the latter part of August. It Is important that they be sown early in order to be ready for cutting at this time. Soy beans sowed too late and cut too late may provide either a poor quality of hay or none nt all. They make hay which Is sufficiently suffi-ciently valuable to justify the dairy farmer In arranging his farm work so as to sow thein when they should be sown. "Soy bean hay is one of the most palatable hays for dairy cattle, and Is practically equal in feeding value to alfalfa, which Is the perfect hay for the dairy herd. The soy bean hay carries approximately the same amount of protein and mineral matter mat-ter as alfalfa, but cows do not eat It up quite as cleanly as they eat up alfalfa, because of the coarser stems. Early sowing and cutting reduce the amount of waste due to this. |