Bulletin No. 382 - Grass-Legume Mixtures for Irrigated Pastures for Dairy Cows

Pastures have been important in the agricultural economy of the Intermountain Region. But as long as nearby valley bottom or other land not well suited for cultivation was available, the pressure for better irrigated pastures remained secondary to that for improved cash crops. Only in recent years have dairymen generally realized that a productive herd, coupled with proper management, could make a good pasture a highly profitable crop. Bateman and Packer pointed out in 1945 this concept of pastures. Bateman et al. using newer mixtures strikingly verified the concept in 1949 and 1954. The growing awareness of the value of pastures when established on the most productive soils gave rise to the need for further studies to make available the most productive pasture mixtures.