Part 5

The first crop the second season will produce approximately two-thirds as much silage to the acre as corn when it is cut at the time it should be cut for hay. The second crop may then be harvested for seed. When sweet clover is handled in this manner, approximately two-thirds of the total corn acreage which would be cut for silage may be permitted to mature, as the first crop of sweet clover will replace the corn silage, while the seed crop ordinarily will bring as much per acre as the corn. In addition to this, the roots and stubble will add large quantities of vegetable matter to the soil.

Some farmers do not cut sweet clover for silage until it is in full bloom. When this is done, 10 to 12 tons of silage will be obtained per acre, but the plants will be killed by the mowing.

When the green plants are ensiled, the crop preferably should be cut with a grain binder. (See illustration on title-page and fig. 11.) This will solve the difficulty of cutting a high stubble and will at the same time bind the plants so that they may be run through the silage cutter without difficulty. Green plants, and especially the first crop of the second season, contain too much moisture to be run into the silo immediately after cutting. In some cases quantities of juice have been pressed out of the bottom of the silo, and as a result the silage settled considerably. Analyses of the juice from one silo showed that it contained 0.23 per cent protein and 2 per cent carbohydrates. This loss of juice may be overcome by permitting the bundles to remain in the field just as they come from the binder until the plants are wilted thoroughly. Straw or corn stover may be placed in the bottom of the silo to absorb some of the juice. If the plants contain too much moisture it may be a good plan to mix some corn stover with the sweet clover as it is run into the silo.

Several silos in Illinois have been filled with sweet-clover straw. When this is done it is necessary to add sufficient water to moisten the dry stems. These stems become soft in a short time and ensile in good condition. When the seed crop is thrashed with either a grain separator or a clover huller the stems are broken and crushed sufficiently to render it unnecessary to run them through a silage cutter. Care must be taken when ensiling the straw to add sufficient water, if molding is to be avoided. It will probably be necessary to add water at the blower and also at the top of the silo. It is essential to tramp the straw thoroughly, so as to exclude as much air as possible. After the silo is filled it should be covered with a layer of green plants and thoroughly soaked with water.

Table III gives analyses of several sample of sweet-clover silage as compared to corn silage.

Table III.--Composition of sweet-clover silage and well-matured corn silage.

---------------+---------+--------------------------------------------- | | Constituents (per cent). | +------+------+--------+----------------+----- Kind of | | | | | Carbohydrates. | | Number |Water.| Ash. | Crude +------+---------+ silage. | of | | |protein.| |Nitrogen-| Fat. |analyses.| | | |Fiber.| free | | | | | | | extract.| ---------------+---------+------+------+--------+------+---------+----- | | | | | | | White sweet | | | | | | | clover; | | | | | | | First year's | | | | | | | growth | 1 | 73.7 | 1.73 | 3.17 | 20.8 | 0.65 First crop, | | | | | | | second | | | | | | | season | 1 | 73.7 | 2.57 | 2.05 | 8.06 | 12.32 | 1.27 Straw | 3 | 73.7 | 1.19 | 2.70 |13.59 | 8.33 | .50 Corn, well | | | | | | | matured | 121 | 73.7 | 1.70 | 2.10 | 6.30 | 15.40 | .80 | | | | | | | ---------------+---------+------+------+--------+------+---------+-----

Analysed by the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station.

Analysed by the Bureau of Chemistry.

Analyses compiled by Henry and Morrison.

As shown in Table III the analyses of the first and second years' growth of sweet clover compare favorably in food elements with corn silage. It is to be expected that the silage made from the sweet clover straw would contain less protein and carbohydrates than that made from the entire plants, as most of the leaves shatter from sweet clover before the seed crop is cut. Considerable protein and carbohydrates were lost from the silage made from the first crop the second season, as the plants were run into the silo as soon as they were cut. Much juice was pressed from the bottom of this silo. An analysis of this juice is given on page 21.

SWEET CLOVER AS A SOILING CROP.

As a soiling crop sweet clover has been used to only a very limited extent. The amperage yields of green matter vary from 6 to 15 tons per acre, The season for soiling may commence when the plants are 12 to 15 inches high and continue until flower buds appear. An area of such a size that the plants may be cut every four or five weeks should be selected. The plants should not be cut closer to the ground than 4 inches during the first part of the season and 9 to 12 inches during the latter part of the season. On account of the high protein content and the large amount of forage produced on a relatively small area, sweet clover may profitably be fed in this manner when more desirable soiling crops are not to be had.

SWEET CLOVER AS A FEED.

PALATABILITY OF SWEET CLOVER.

The woody growth of sweet clover as it reaches maturity and the bitter taste due to coumarin have been the principal causes for live stock refusing to eat it at first. On this account many farmers have assumed it to be worthless as a feed. It is a fact that stock seldom eat the hard, woody stems of mature plants, but it is true also that stock eat sparingly of the coarse, fibrous growth of such legumes as red or mammoth clover when they have been permitted to mature and have lost much of their palatability. All kinds of stock will eat green sweet clover before it becomes woody, or hay which has been cut at the proper time and well cured, after they have become accustomed to it. Many cases are on record in which cattle have refused alfalfa or red clover when sweet clover was accessible. Milch cows have been known to refuse a ration of alfalfa hay when given to them for the first time. Western range cattle which have never been fed corn very often refuse to eat corn fodder, or even corn, for a short time, and instances have come under observation in which they ate the dried husks and left the corn uneaten. When these cattle were turned on green grass the following spring they browsed on the dead grass of the preceding season's growth, which, presumably more closely resembled the grass to which they were accustomed. Such preliminary observations should never be taken as final, even when they represent the results of careful investigators. When cowpeas were first introduced into certain sections of this country much trouble was experienced in getting stock to eat the vines, either when cured into hay or made into ensilage. This difficulty, however, was soon overcome.

It is very true that stock which have never been pastured on sweet clover or fed on the hay must become accustomed to it before they will eat it, but the fact that sweet clover is now being fed to stock in nearly every State indicates that the distaste for it can be overcome easily and successfully. As sweet clover usually starts growth earlier in the spring than other forage plants and as the early growth presumably contains less coumarin than older plants, stock seldom refuse to eat it at this time. Properly cured hay is seldom refused by stock, especially if it is sprinkled with salt water when the animals are salt hungry.

COMPOSITION OF SWEET CLOVER.

Sweet clover, like most legumes, contains a relatively high percentage of protein, thus making it a source of that valuable constituent of feeds needed for growing stock and for the production of milk. Table IV shows the relative composition and digestibility of sweet clover as compared to some other feeds.

Table IV.--Composition and digestibility of sweet clover compared with that of other forage crops.

AVERAGE PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF SWEET CLOVER AND OTHER FORAGE CROPS.

-----------------+---------+-------------------------------------------- | | Constituents (per cent). | +------+-----+--------+----------------+----- | | | | |Carbohydrates. | | Number | | | +------+---------+ Kinds of forage. | of |Water.| Ash.| Crude | |Nitrogen-| Fat. |analyses.| | |protein.|Fiber.| free | | | | | | extract.| -----------------+---------+------+-----+--------+------+---------+----- | | | | | | | Green crop: | | | | | | | Sweet clover| 18 | 75.6 | 2.1 | 4.4 | 7.0 | 10.2 | 0.7 Alfalfa | 143 | 74.7 | 2.4 | 4.5 | 7.0 | 10.4 | 1.0 Red Clover | 85 | 73.8 | 2.1 | 4.1 | 7.3 | 11.7 | 1.0 | | | | | | | Hay (moisture- | | | | | | | free basis): | | | | | | | White sweet | | | | | | | clover | 37 | .... | 8.2 | 17.6 | 28.2 | 43.0 | 3.0 Yellow sweet | | | | | | | clover | 3 | .... | 6.4 | 15.8 | 35.6 | 39.0 | 2.6 Alfalfa | 211 | .... | 9.6 | 17.4 | 29.8 | 40.3 | 2.9 Red clover | 99 | .... | 7.0 | 15.6 | 27.7 | 44.9 | 3.9 Timothy | 194 | .... | 6.2 | 8.2 | 32.5 | 49.9 | 3.2 -----------------+---------+------+-----+--------+------+---------+-----

DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS OF SWEET CLOVER AND OTHER FORAGE CROPS WHEN FED TO SHEEP.

----------------+----------+---------------------------------+--------- | | Digestible nutrients in 100 | | | pounds of air-dried hay. |Nutritive |Dry matter+--------+--------+-------+-------+ratio. Kinds of forage.| in 100 |Protein.|Carbohy-| Fat. | Dry | | pounds. | | drates.| |matter.| ----------------+----------+--------+--------+-------+-------+--------- | | | | | | White sweet- | | | | | | clover hay | 92.2 | 11.88 | 36.68 | 0.49 | 56.12 | 1:3.2 Pea hay | 93.1 | 11.24 | 48.55 | .71 | 62.5 | 1:4.5 Alfalfa hay | 92.2 | 11.73 | 42.38 | .72 | 60.90 | 1:3.8 (second cutting)| | | | | | ----------------+----------+--------+--------+-------+-------+---------

Analyses taken from Henry and Morrison's "Foods and Feeding."

Analyses compiled by the Bureau of Chemistry.

Experiments conducted by the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station.

The nutritive ratio is the ratio which exists between the digestible crude protein and the combined digestible carbohydrates and fat.