376 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



who grows great crops of corn for grain and silage must also have broad 

 fields of clover, alfalfa, or some other legume to help round out the ration. 



High in crude protein and mineral matter, especially lime, the legume 

 hays are of great importance in reducing the amount of expensive pro- 

 tein-rich concentrates needed to provide a properly balanced ration for 

 the dairy cow. The following paragraphs show that when an abundance 

 of legume hay of good quality and silage from well-matured corn is sup- 

 plied, but half as much concentrates need be fed as when only car- 

 bonaceous roughages are used. Indeed, for cows of rather low pro- 

 ductive capacity a ration of legume hay and corn or sorghum silage 

 alone may even be the most economical one that can be furnished. Tho 

 the milk yield may be reduced somewhat on such a ration, an animal 

 of this kind may not pay for the addition of any concentrates. When 

 legume hay is fed to dairy cows, it is desirable that some succulent 

 roughage, such as corn silage or roots, be fed in addition, to furnish 

 greater variety and add to the palatability of the ration. 



610. Alfalfa hay. Good alfalfa hay is generally placed at the head of 

 the list of roughages suitable for the dairy cow, on account of its high 

 content of protein and its palatability. (338) The value of this hay in 

 balancing rations otherwise low in protein is well shown in a trial by 

 Caldwell at the Ohio Station 66 in which one lot of 6 cows was fed a ration 

 of 11.6 Ibs. alfalfa hay, 27.8 Ibs. corn silage, and 5.9 Ibs. corn meal for 56 

 days, in comparison with another lot fed 9.3 Ibs. concentrates (consisting 

 of one-third each of cottonseed meal, wheat bran, and corn meal) with 

 5.6 Ibs. corn stover, and 29.3 Ibs. corn silage. The ration fed Lot I can- 

 not be called ideal, for it would have been improved had a greater 

 variety of concentrates been fed instead of corn meal alone. Also the 

 production would probably have been greater if a small amount of some 

 protein-rich concentrate had been substituted for part of the corn, to 

 provide slightly more protein than the alfalfa ration furnished. How- 

 ever, this lot, which was fed less than two-thirds as much concentrates 

 as Lot II, and received no purchased protein-rich concentrates what- 

 soever, produced slightly more milk and nearly as much butter fat. The 

 nutritive ratio of the alfalfa ration was 1 :7.0 and of the ration contain- 

 ing the purchased concentrates, 1 : 5.7. 



While alfalfa hay is high in protein for a roughage, containing on the 

 average 10.6 per ct. digestible crude protein, a considerable portion of 

 this is not true protein but consists of the compounds classed as amids. 

 (11) Indeed, Armsby gives the digestible true protein content of alfalfa 

 as but 7.1 per ct., only two-thirds as much as the amount of digestible 

 crude protein. (171) On account of the difference in opinion as to 

 whether amids can replace protein in stock feeding (94), Hart and 

 Humphrey carried on metabolism trials at the Wisconsin Station 67 in 

 which the crude protein in the rations fed dairy cows came either from 

 alfalfa hay or from a mixture of corn grain, corn gluten feed, and corn 



"Ohio Bui. 267. 67 Wis. Res. Bui. 33. 



