Cabbage For Stock

No vegetable raised in the temperate zone, Mangold Wurtzel alone

excepted, will produce as much food to the acre, both for man and beast,

as the cabbage. I have seen acres of the Marblehead Mammoth drumhead

which would average thirty pounds to each cabbage, some specimens

weighing over sixty pounds. The plants were four feet apart each way

which would give a product of over forty tons to the acre; and I have

tested a crop of Fottler's that yielded thirty tons of green food to the

half acre. Other vegetables are at times raised for cattle feed, such as

potatoes, carrots, ruta bagas, mangold wurtzels; a crop of potatoes

yielding four hundred bushels to the acre at sixty pounds the bushel

would weigh twelve tons; a crop of carrot yielding twelve hundred

bushels to the acre would weigh thirty tons; ruta bagas sometimes yield

thirty tons; and mangolds as high as seventy tons to the acre. I have

set all these crops at a high capacity for fodder purposes; the same

favoring conditions of soil, manure, and cultivation that would produce

four hundred bushels of potatoes, twelve hundred bushels of carrots, and

thirty-five tons of ruta baga turnips, would give a crop of forty tons

of the largest variety of drumhead cabbage. If we now consider the

comparative merits of these crops for nutriment, we find that the

cabbage excels them all in this department also. The potatoes abound in

starch, the mangold and carrot are largely composed of water, while the

cabbage abounds in rich, nitrogeneous food.



Prof. Stewart states that cabbage for milch cows has about the same

feeding value as sweet corn ensilage, and makes the value not over $3.40

per ton. Now it is admitted by general current that the value of common

ensilage, which is inferior to that made from sweet corn, is, when

compared with good English hay, as 3 to 1. This would make cabbages for

milch cows worth not far from $7.00 per ton.



When cabbage is kept for stock feed later than the first severe frost,

if the quantity is large there is considerable waste even with the best

of care. The loose leaves should be fed first, and the heads kept in a

cool place, not more than two or three deep, at as near the freezing

point as possible. If it has been necessary to cut the heads from the

stumps, they may be piled, after the weather has set in decidedly cold,

conveniently near the barn, and kept covered with a foot of straw or

old litter. As long as a cabbage is kept frozen there is no waste to it;

but if it be allowed to freeze and thaw two or three times, it will soon

rot with an awful stench. I suspect that it is this rotten portion of

the cabbage that often gives the bad flavor to milk. On the other hand,

if it is kept in too warm and dry a place, the outer leaves will dry,

turning yellow, and the whole head lose in weight,--if it be not very

hard, shrivelling, and, if hard, shrinking. If they are kept in too warm

and wet a place, the heads will decay fast, in a black, soft rot. The

best way to preserve cabbages for stock into the winter, is to place

them in trenches a few inches below the surface, and there cover with

from a foot to two feet of coarse hay or straw, the depth depending on

the coldness of the locality. When the ground has been frozen too hard

to open with a plough or spade, I have kept them until spring by piling

them loosely, hay-stack shape, about four feet high, letting the frost

strike through them, and afterwards covering with a couple of feet of

eel-grass; straw or coarse hay would doubtless do as well.



I have treated of cabbage thus far when grown specially for stock; in

every piece of cabbage handled for market purposes, there is a large

proportion of waste suitable for stock feed, which includes the outside

leaves and such heads as have not hardened up sufficiently for market.

On walking over a piece just after my cabbages for seed stock have been

taken off, I note that the refuse leaves that were stripped from the

heads before pulling are so abundant they nearly cover the ground. If

leaves so stripped remain exposed to frost, they soon spoil; or, if

earlier in the season they are exposed to the sun, they soon become

yellow, dry, and of but little value. They can be rapidly collected with

a hay fork and carted, if there be but a few, into the barn; should

there be a large quantity, dump them within a convenient distance of the

barn or feeding ground, but not where the cattle can trample them, and

spread them so that they will be but a few inches in depth. If piled in

heaps they will quickly heat; but even then, if not too much decayed,

cattle will eat them with avidity. Cabbages are hardy plants, and loose

heads will stand a good deal of freezing and thawing without serious

injury. They are not generally injured with the thermometer 16° below

freezing. The waste, after the seed and all market cabbage are removed,

brings me about $10 per acre on the ground, for cow feed.



If cabbage is fed to cows in milk without some care, it will be apt to

give the milk a strong cabbage flavor; all the feed for the day should

be given early in the morning. Beginning with a small quantity, and

gradually increasing it, the dairy man will soon learn his limits. The

effect of a liberal feed to milk stock is to largely increase the flow

of milk. Avoid feeding to any extent while the leaves are frozen.



An English writer says: The cabbage comes into use when other things

begin to fail, and it is by far the best succulent vegetable for milking

cows,--keeping up the yield of milk, and preserving, better than any

other food, some portion of the quality which cheese loses when the cows

quit their natural pasturage. Cows fed on cabbages are always quiet and

satisfied, while on turnips they often scour and are restless. When

frosted, they are liable to produce hoven, unless kept in a warm shed to

thaw before being used; fifty-six pounds given, at two meals, are as

much as a large cow should have in a day. Frequent cases of abortion are

caused by an over-supply of green food. Cabbages are excellent for young

animals, keeping them in health, and preventing 'black leg.' A calf of

seven months may have twenty pounds a day.