SOILING, the system of feeding grazing animals, especially cattle, in barns and other enclosures, with freshly cut green crops grown for the purpose, instead of turning them out to pasture. The practice has its most important application in intensive farming and on small i farms as in Europe, but is also practised in other regions where the agricultural resources are undergoing development from extensive to intensive methods. In many parts of Europe the animals are soiled during the whole year, never being allowed to graze at all. In the older parts of America and Australia this is also true to some extent; but generally in these newer countries the practice is combined with pasturing, the animals being usually kept in the barns during the day to reduce annoyance from flies, and turned out to graze at night fall. It is also true in America that the animals are more seldom fed in barns even during summer than in Europe. However, dairy cattle, es pecially in the vicinity of cities, are frequently kept in the stables and fed there the year around with soiling crops, supplemented with hay, grain and other dry feeds. This practice appears to be growing in popularity.
In America soiling first began to attract at tention about 100 years ago, though not until the middle of the past century did it begin to gain ground rapidly, due mainly to the growth of population and the consequent increase in the values of land, more especially in the north eastern quarter of the United States and ad jacent Canada. Agricultural literature shows that at that time the plants most favored were the taller growing fodder crops such as timothy, red clover, oats, cabbage and various roots, es pecially mangels, turnips and carrots. While all these are more or less popular at the present time millet, rape, sorghum, Kaffin corn, crimson clover, cow peas, soy beans, and alfalfa and combinations of Canada field peas with oats, or barley, and winter vetch with rye have more than supplemented, well nigh supplanted, them in general favor. This is mainly because these
crops cover the whole season more completely than the former list and also yield larger quanti ties of fodder on given areas. Especially is this the case, with alfalfa which not only may be cut several times, thus yielding heavily, but the green material is notably rich in muscle and milk-forming compounds.
In the Middle West where areas are less restricted than in the East and where natural grasses are abundant, pasturing rather than soiling is the vogue. But even here the newer practice is gaining headway in the vicinity of cities because of its economy and expediency. There as elsewhere a larger number of animals may be sustained by an equal area in pasturage. When the animals are confined the expense of erecting and maintaining fences is eliminated, except for small paddocks. The waste of food due to trampling and defiling with manure is avoided. The animals may always be assured of abundant food. The manure may be evenly distributed, especially when mechanical spreaders are used, thus preventing the too abundant de posits in some parts of the field, the almost en tire lack in others and the irregular distribu tion between these two extremes. Except for the increased labor of handling the food and the manure the system has no serious disad vantage, though it is claimed-that animals thrive best where they are allowed exercise; but this may be secured in summer at least by the free dom of a paddock, preferably at night. For this last reason soiling and pasturing are com monly combined in the United States, the pas ture being kept as remote as convenient from the crop fields so the animals may not become restive and be tempted to break through the fences.
Experiments have been tried in soiling and bulletins published by various experiment sta tions, more especially those of the East. The Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture has also issued in formation on this subject.