18 Farmers9 Bulletin 1126.
Sudan grass later in their lactation period than when pasturing the Dallis grass, the yield of milk was greater from Sudan than from Dallis grass.
At the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, Kans.,6 six Holstein cows were pastured on Sudan grass from July 10 to October 11, 1919. They were fed a grain mixture at the rate of 1 pound to each 4 pounds of milk produced. The returns from the pasture, including about 1^ tons of hay per acre which was har- vested to keep the grass down, were $47.47 an acre above the value of the grain fed. This result was obtained by reckoning the butter
fat at market prices and the skim milk at 50 cents a hundred pounds. Estimated by valuing the whole milk at 30 cents a gallon, the re- turns amounted to $73.55 per acre above the cost of the grain con- sumed.
Besides these more or less definite tests by experiment stations, numerous farmers have reported excellent results with Sudan grass pasture. This is particularly true in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and eastern Kansas, where it is being utilized as a summer pasture by scores of farmers.
Hogs relish the grass, and when they have access to Sudan grass pasture good gains can be produced with 60 to 70 per cent of the customary grain ration.
Sudan grass, like Johnson grass, is less likely to contain danger- ous amounts of prussic acid than the larger sorghums. Only three authentic cases of poisoning by Sudan grass have been called to the attention of the United States Department of Agriculture. The most serious of these occurred on a farm in Kansas where for two years the Sudan grass had been pastured without trouble. The third year, after a crop badly injured by drouth had been cut for hay, 40 cows were turned into the field to pasture the aftermath. In three hours 17 of the cows became sick and some of them died. Such ex- periences show plainly that, notwithstanding the comparative safety of Sudan grass as pasture, care must be used in pasturing it with cattle, especially in the Northwestern States.
Several facts in regard to prussic-acid poisoning should be kept in mind by the grower of Sudan grass.
(1) The formation of prussic acid is most frequent in Sudan grass that has been injured by drought or other unfavorable climatic conditions.
(2) Hogs can be pastured on Sudan grass in safety, and horses and sheep are less susceptible to the poison than cattle.
(3) No case of Sudan grass poisoning has been * reported from the Southern States or east of the ninety-eighth meridian. North of Oklahoma and west of the ninety-eighth meridian care must be exercised in pasturing Sudan grass with cattle.
6 Call, L. E., and Fitch, J. B. Sudan grass as a supplementary pasture crop for dairy cattle. Kans. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 80, 4 p. 1920.