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Missouri Agricultural Report. 



balanced as the one containing clover hay and silage, but it is 

 not as good a ration, notwithstanding it contains more expensive 

 concentrates. It lacks a succulent feed, which is much appreciated 

 by the milch cows. Moreover, timothy hay is not as good as clover 

 when there is an abundance of corn raised. It is perhaps well to 

 compose the composition of clover hay, timothy and alfalfa in tab- 

 ular form in order to see why timothy is not a good hay where 

 there is plenty of corn, and why alfalfa is such a very valuable 

 hay for all kinds of live stock. In the following table we have 

 shown the amount of digestible nutrients contained in 100 pounds 

 of timothy hay, alfalfa and clover. 



Clover hay contains about 21/2 times as much protein as tim- 

 othy, and alfalfa 4 times as much. In 100 pounds of corn there 

 is 89.1 pounds of dry matter, containing 7.9 pounds of digestible 

 protein, 66.7 pounds of digestible carbohydrates and 4.3 pounds of 

 digestible fat. Since corn contains such a low per cent of protein 

 and a high percentage of carbohydrates, it goes well with alfalfa, 

 because it is richer in protein and contains much less carbohy- 

 drates. Let us make a ration of alfalfa and corn for a cow weigh- 

 ing 1,000 pounds and giving 25 pounds of 4^ milk: 



Corn and barley are about the only grains that will make a 

 balanced ration with alfalfa. Corn and alfalfa not only make a 

 balanced ration, but the combination seems to keep the cow ia 

 exceptionally good order. It is generally thought that it is better 

 to feed at least two kinds of concentrates, not that the ration will 

 be balanced better, but for the sake of variety. If corn is the only 

 concentrate fed with the alfalfa it is well to mix some cut alfalfa 

 with the corn, for the cow does not do well on so heavy a feed a;-5 

 corn if fed alone. She is built for a bulky ration. 



