Other forages

Adapted from Edwards R A, Donaldson E and MacGregor A W 1968 Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 19 656-60 and MacGregor A W and Edwards R A 1968 Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 19 661-6. 

In some coimtries, the whole sugarcane crop is used as forage for ruminants. The whole crop on a dry matter basis has an ME value of about 9 MJ/kg and a low crude protein content of about 40 g/kg. 

The genus Brassica comprises some 40 species, of which the following are of agricultural importance kales, cabbages, rapes, turnips and swedes. Some of the brassicas are grown primarily as root crops, and these will be discussed in Chapter 21. 

Kales are low in dry matter content (about 140 g/kg), which is rich in protein (about 150 g/kg), water-soluble carbohydrates (200-250 g/kg) and calcium (10-20 g/kg), and their digestibility is generally high. The woody stems of marrowstem kale are lower in digestibility than the rest of the plant and may be rejected by animals. 

The rapes grown in Britain are usually swede-rapes (B. napus), although turnip-rapes (B. campestris) also occur. Rape may be included in seed mixtures for pastures, in order to provide forage until the grasses become established. The nutritive value of rapes is similar to that of the kales. A forage rape and kale hybrid (var. Swift) is valued for fast growth combined with winter hardiness. 

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Durgan, B.R. (1988). Weed Control in Established Alfalfa and Other Forage Legumes. St. Paul, MN University of Minnesota - Extension Bulletin AG-FS-0922. 

In recent years, the addition of tallow has moved directly to dairy and beef feed lots. Small, heated, insulated tanks have been developed to receive and hold fat shipments (Figure 7). As described earlier, beef tallow is the most compatible fat for ruminants. It may be sprayed or flowed, at 2-3% of dry matter onto rations of chopped hay, other roughages, grains, or concentrates while in the mixer, or top-dressed on hay or other forages. Feed mixing operations like these require a positive displacement pump, like a Moyno or gear pump with variable-speed drive set to deliver a known amount of fat within a specific time period. As an alternative, mixers in feed mills can be mounted on load cells and equipped with controllers to stop the flow of fat when the desired weight has been added. 

The mice fed on soybean for a long time may have thyroid enlargement. By comparison with other forage, it was found that ss was a ctor that caused thyroid enlargement. The above toxicity tests showed that ss had little side effect,which did not affect ss s utilization. 

Other forage crops include immature cereals, sugarcane (and its fibrous by-product bagasse), various brassica species and the green tops of root crops. Brassicas such as kale contain goitrogens and also the unusual amino acid S-methylcysteine sulphoxide, which causes haemolytic anaemia in ruminants. 

Hay is made mainly by the sun-drying of grass and other forage crops. After the crop has been cut, its treatment in the field is intended to minimise losses of valuable nutrients caused by the action of plant respiration, by microorganisms, by oxidation, by leaching and by mechanical damage. 

Livestock seldom eat hemlock because of its strong odor, but they will do so if no other forage is available or if it is incorporated in hay or silage [52]. 

Bales, stacks and pits of hay, other forages and silages can be sampled by metal probes that consist of steel bars of various lengths, the ends of which carry several barbs. The probe is pushed into the bale or stack, twisted, and withdrawn. The barbs carry a sample from the inside. Several bales should be... 

F. E. Barton II and D. Burdick, Analysis of bermudagrass and other forages by near-infrared reflectance, in Proc. 8th Res. andind. Conf, Coastal Bermudagrass Processors Assoc., Athens, Georgia, 1978, pp. 45-51. 

Although it is not so usual, slurry can also be used on cereals and other forage crops. Band spreaders have been developed which make it possible to spread across the whole width of tramlines. These also reduce the ammortia errrissiorrsby 30-40% compared with traditional slurry tankers. 

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