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Feeding Value

Categories: OTHER LEGUMES AND CEREAL CATCH CROPS

The soybean makes a rich hay, surpassing clover, but it

is coarse, and its unattractive appearance has caused many farmers to

condemn it without trial. Livestock eat it greedily, and it is one of

our richest coarse feeds. The curing is more difficult than in the case

of the cowpea because the leaves drop early, and the plants must be

harvested before they approach maturity.



Probably the large yield of rich seed is the most important feature of

the soybean crop. A ton of the seed contains as much protein as a ton

of old-process oil meal, and three fourths as much as a ton of

cottonseed meal. A good crop of the soybean will yield 18 to 20 bushels

of seed, and as the nitrogen may be obtained chiefly from the air, the

protein from this crop will come to be a leading substitute for

purchased protein feeds.



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