Ten Eyck writes as follows on the harvesting of kafir : "There are several ways of harvesting kafir, the value of each method depending largely on how the crop is planted, the condition of growth and what is desired of the product. Where kafir is grown on a large scale, as in some of the western states, it is often harvested with a wheat header, the heads being drawn directly to the thresher or piled in narrow ricks and threshed later. This, perhaps, is the best way to handle the crop on a large scale, if labor is costly and the fodder cannot be used to advantage in the feed-lot. Kafir does not need to be harvested at an exact time, as is the case with many crops, as the leaves remain green and the seed is retained for a considerable time after it has matured. Some farmers have a home-made implement for cutting the heads from the standing crop in the field. This machine con sists essentially of a gear attached to the hind wheel of the wagon and connected with an upright shaft, at the top of which, in a horizontal plane and flush with the top of the wagon, a spindle wheel revolves. The arms of this wheel catch the kafir and draw it toward the edge of the wagon box, where a sharp knife is fixed so as to cut oil the heads, which fall into the wagon-box. There are several machines made for heading kafir in the field. They are simply attachments to any ordinary wagon-bed something after the pattern of the home-made attachment described above.
"If the fodder is desired for feed, the crop should be cut and shocked the same as corn. It is usually satisfactory to use the ordinary corn har vester. Make the bundles small and do not tie them too tightly. Place in small shocks (twelve to fifteen bundles) so made that free ventilation will be allowed underneath. The shock should be firmly tied around the top to prevent the bundles falling over, which they are very likely to do, as nearly all the weight is at the extreme top. The kafir may be left in these small shocks until required for feeding throughout the fall and winter. Good re sults have been secured by feeding kafir whole and on the stalk, but it is considered preferable to feed the grain and fodder separately."
Composition.
Kafir contains a higher percentage of starch than maize, but less oil and protein. The following table, giving the composition of kafir, is compiled from Farmers' Bulletin No. 37, of the United States Department of Agriculture : Uses and raise.
In Africa the grain of kafir is used as human food. In the United States, however, it is little used in this way, most of it being fed to stock, either as grain or as forage. Working horses may be fed the grain threshed or in the head, but for idle horses and colts better results can be obtained by feeding grain and stalks together. The grain should be threshed and ground for feeding as a fattening ration to cattle, but for dairy cows and young stock the fodder may be used. The meal is much used with skim-milk for feeding to calves. For hogs, the grain should be ground and fed in troughs, using water or skim-milk to moisten the meal. Best results may be secured by feeding the meal with alfalfa hay or skim-milk, or by feeding when the hogs are on alfalfa pasture. For sheep, the whole grain, ground grain, or fodder may be used. The whole grain is excellent for poultry.
The grain is similar in composition to corn, but is slightly higher in starch content and lower in protein. In feeding tests it has never been found quite equal to corn. The fodder is considered equal to corn stover.
Care must be exercised in feeding the young growth, as it has been found that prussic acid devel ops when the growth is checked. Under certain conditions, young growths of all sorghums may be poisonous. Frost and extreme drought are supposed to develop the poison by checking the growth, resulting in the action of an enzyme on a glucoside normally present in the plant.
Literature.
Farmers' Bulletins Nos. 37 and 288, United States Department of Agriculture ; Kansas Experiment Station, Bulletins Nos. 56, 93, 127 ; Nebraska Ex periment Station, Bulletin No. 77; Oklahoma Ex periment Station, Bulletin No. 35.