Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1877 — Cattle on Pastures In Spring. [ARTICLE]

Cattle on Pastures In Spring.

A word of caution is not out of place at this time in regard to turning stock out to pasture. After having been shut up in stables, sheds and yards during most of the winter, and fed on dry feed, a bite of fresh grass, just starting in growth is very greatly relished by the cattle, and some Farmers are disposed to gratify the appetite of their stock a little too early for the good of their pasture*. The ground should he fairly settled, for if the cattle are turned upon it while it is soft and spongy the sod will be cut up and injured before tile grass has obtained a fair start, and the injury will hardly be repaired during the season. The sparseness of the feed causes the stock to roam over the entire field day alter day, and it sometimes happens that great damage results from want ot consideration in this matter. Under such treatment there is little wonder that a pasture soon runs out. There are those that hold that it is a good plan to turn cattle out early, before the young grass has fairly started, because they will then eat a considerable quantity of last year’s dry grass while cropping the new, and thus naturally become accustomed to the change as the season advances. This is very well in some cases, but will not answer in (all, and the farmer must decide whether or not it is good policy. Hie condition of the pasture must mainlv decide the Question. If the land is not too wet, and there is a well es-

tablUkedflrm todwhkhwa» not paatufed too late the preceding fell, this plan is, for several reasons. Judicious. But while It Is unwise, as a rule, to torn the cattle on the pastures us soon as the young grass begins to appear, it is just as unwise to continue them In the stables or yards and feed them on dry fodder almost exclusively until there is a full feed of grass in the pastures. When they are turned out under such circumstances, they find the tender herbage so exceedingly palatable, after their Jong confinement on dry feed, that they till themselves with the succulent graae, which acts as a cathartic or purgative; and in such cases It not unfrequently weakens and debilitates the cattle to a degree that is highly injurious. In proper - quantity, green grass is highly beneficial in cleansing the stomach and intestines of stock, and bringing about a healthy action throughout the entire system, but when eaten to excess, especially immediately after a long period of dry diet, it induces scours, which, as every judicious farmer knows, is a disadvantage to his animals. The change ought to bo gradual, and a mixed diet of dry and green food provided, so that a normal condition may be maintaiied —nounnrtural action induced. In this way the health of the entire herd will be maintained and the vigorous growth of the young stock promoted.— Wi stem R\lrai.