SWEET-CLOVER HAY.
When sweet-clover hay is cut at the right time and cured properly it is eaten readily by all classes of live stock. As the hay is rich in protein, growing stock make gains on it comparable to the gains of those fed on alfalfa. The quantity and quality of the milk produced when the hay is fed to cows are approximately the same as when other legumes are used. Hay which is cut the first year is fine stemmed and leafy and resembles alfalfa in general appearance. Unless it is cut at the proper time the second year, it will be stemmy and unpalatable. Feeding experiments show that it contains practically as much digestible protein as alfalfa and more than red clover, but the hay is not as palatable as red clover or alfalfa when the plants are permitted to become coarse and woody. When sweet clover is seeded in the spring without a nurse crop in the northern and western sections of the United States, a cutting of hay may be obtained the same autumn. When it is seeded with a nurse crop in these regions, the rainfall during the late summer and early fall will largely determine whether the plants will make sufficient growth to be cut for hay. On fertile, well-limed soils in the East, in the eastern North-Central States, in Iowa, and in eastern Kansas a cutting of hay is commonly obtained after grain harvest when the rainfall is normal or above normal. In many sections of the country two, and at times three, cuttings of hay may be obtained the second year ([fig. 3]).
In the South two, and sometimes three, cuttings may be obtained the first year if the seeding is done without a nurse crop. When the seed is sown in the spring with oats, two cuttings may be secured after oat harvest. Three cuttings may be obtained the second year, although it is the common practice to cut the first crop for hay and the second crop for seed.
YIELDS OF SWEET-CLOVER HAY.
The total yields of sweet clover per acre for the season are usually less than those of alfalfa except in the semiarid unirrigated portions of the country. Sweet clover ordinarily yields more to the acre than any of the true clovers.
Fig. 3.—Cutting sweet clover for hay in western Kansas.
When the seed is sown in the spring in the North without a nurse crop, yields of 1 to 3 tons of hay of good quality may be expected the following autumn, The Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station obtained 2,700 pounds of hay per acre in the fall from spring seeding, while the United States Department of Agriculture obtained 3,000 pounds of hay per acre in August from May seeding in Maryland. Yields of 1 to 2 tons, and occasionally 3 tons, have been obtained in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, the Dakotas, and other States. In Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas yields of 1 to 11/2 tons are often obtained after grain harvest when weather conditions are favorable.
The first crop the second season yields 11/2 to 3 tons of hay to the acre in the northern and western sections of the United States. The second crop of the second season will yield from three-fourths to 11/2 tons to the acre, although this crop usually is cut for seed.