796 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Good bright alfalfa hay that has not been wet by rains or dew is more 

 valuable for feed than that which has been damaged by water. It 

 has been shown that where good hay contained 18.75 per cent protein 

 in the water-free material, the same hay damaged by rains contained 

 only 11.01 per cent protein. 



RELATION TO OTHER FEEDING STUFFS. 



Need of grain as a balance. — It will be seen that alfalfa is even more 

 nutritious than clover. On account of its high percentage of protein 

 it is not a balanced ration. For the best results the alfalfa should be 

 <;ombined with some other feed which is rich in carbohydrates. While 

 animals may be fed and even fattened for the market upon alfalfa alone, 

 nevertheless a portion of the nutritive value of the alfalfa is lost in this 

 way. The alfalfa does not give the best results. In order to balance the 

 ration alfalfa should be combined with a suitable quantity of grain. 

 This grain may be corn or barley, according to the availability of each. 

 Alfalfa as a dairy feed. — As an illustration of feeding alfalfa alone, 

 may be mentioned the case of the dairy farms in the vicinity of Moneta, 

 Cal., where the stock are ordinarily fed no other ration than alfalfa. 

 Since alfalfa is not a balanced ration a number of local dairymen tried 

 to replace a part of the alfalfa by sorghum, thus giving a more nearly bal- 

 anced ration. The cows, however, did not give as much milk upon this 

 combination as upon pure alfalfa. This result may be assigned to the 

 fact that the cattle were unable to consume a sufficient quantity of the 

 mixture to produce the same results as the alfalfa alone. These dairy- 

 men find they can secure a larger milk-yield by feeding a little grain; but 

 the increased yield does not pay for the grain, which is high priced in 

 this locality. 



EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING ALFALFA. 



Pigs in Nebraska. — Pig-feeding experiments carried on at the Nebraska 

 Experiment Station with corn and alfalfa hay showed that the cheapest 

 gains were made by means of corn and chopped alfalfa. In this, combi- 

 nation the cheapest gains were made where the ration was three-fourths 

 corn and one-fourth alfalfa, but where the alfalfa was raised on the farm 

 and there was no particular need of hastening the growth of the pigs, 

 it was found that cheaper gains were made with one-half alfalfa and one 

 lialf corn. 



Cattle and hogs in Kansas. — At the Kansas Experiment Station cattle 

 fed upon a ration of corn and alfalfa hay gained much more than others 

 led upon other rations. During the one hundred and fifty-three days 

 of the test the value of the gains made by the different lots were: Corn 

 and alfalfa hay, $109.74; barley and alfalfa. $57.16; wheat and alfalfa, 

 $44.91; corn and sorghum, $27.09; corn and prairie hay, $56.96; corn and 

 oat straw, $43.28. At the same station hogs were fed on a ration of 

 alfalfa hay and Kafir corn meal. The gains were seventy-three per cent 

 more on this ration than upon a ration of Kafir corn meal alone. For 

 •every bushel of Kafir corn meal 7183 pounds of alfalfa hay the gain 



