afterfeed

[Note: This entry was previously afterfeed(ing).]

afterfeed n Also rarely afterfeeding [Prob from Engl dial (esp Oxfordshire), although earliest attestation is from US; cf EDD after prep. 9] originally NEast, later chiefly NY and swIA ?obs Note: The survival of this term in IA was apparently very local; in the NewspaperArchive database, which has good coverage throughout IA, there are more than 60 unique exx of this term from Creston IA and nearby Corning between 1910 and 1977, and none from elsewhere in the state.

Aftermath or corn stalks used for grazing.

1714 Boston News-Letter (MA) 30 Aug 1/1 MA, A sore scorching Drought . . threatening a great Diminution of the Ungathered Corn and Fruits, and total Deprivation of the After-Feed. 1806 NJ Jrl. (Elizabethtown) 28 Oct [2]/1 RI, Hay. The crop averaged very short, owing to the dry, cool spring—but we shall receive considerable assistance from the after-feed which has been produced by a long series of wet weather. 1831 MA Genl. Court Acts & Resolves 19 Mar 687 MA, The number of acres of pasture land . . with the after feed of the whole farm. 1851 New Engl. Farmer 3.323 IL, [Letter:] I prefer sheep to any other stock to take the after-feed, as they take it closer and more even . . and they scatter the manure mose [sic] equally over the surface of the ground. 1868 Cultivator & Country Gentleman 32.196 cNY, Commenced cutting grass for hay on the 22d of June, and on the 15th of July the cows were turned into after-feed of the meadows. 1895 N. Adams Transcript (MA) 22 Oct [3]/4 (newspaperarchive.com), Scarcity of water is yet quite seriously felt in many parts of the town. . . Not so much afterfeed as usual, and most pastures are of no account whatever for stock. 1926 Creston Daily Advt. (IA) 14 Dec 7/6, [Advt:] Feed— . . several ton of threshed straw in barn, and afterfeed on 280 acres, including 75 acres of corn stalks and 75 acres of meadow. 1939 Daily Messenger (Canandaigua NY) 21 July 3/5, Ontario and other western counties are suffering from the lack of rainfall, with pastures deteriorating rapidly. Farmers report there is practically no afterfeed in meadows. 1954 Norwich Sun (NY) 5 Aug 4/6, Hordes of army worms appeared in the fields of tall afterfeed on the Ambrose Jackson farm late last week. 1959 Creston News Advt. (IA) 25 Nov sec 2 4/1, [Advt:] The afterfeed on 160-acre farm, consisting of 40 acres of corn stalks and 40 acres of second cutting clover hay, never mowed. 1966 Eve. Sun (Norwich NY) 30 Aug 5/1, Milk production is up slightly due to barn feeding; also, there is more afterfeed on meadows than last year. 1968–70 DARE (Qu. L10, After hay has been cut, then it grows back and you cut it again, you’d call that_____) Infs CT26, NY189, 219, 233, Afterfeed; NY96, Afterfeeding—this was not cut; it was grass left for cattle to eat like pasture. [All Infs old] 1977 Creston News Advt. (IA) 18 Oct 11/2, [Advt:] For Rent: 50 acres pasture and 40 acres afterfeed.