180 Feeds and Feeding. 



245. Alfalfa hay as a feed. No other roughage on the farm is 

 possible of wider use than alfalfa hay. For road horses it is not of 

 much value, being too laxative and causing the animals to sweat 

 freely. However, it can be used with all classes of horses to some 

 extent, and largely with those at slow, steady work. (440) When 

 fed to fattening steers alfalfa hay tends to the more rapid laying 

 on of fat, thereby reducing the quantity of concentrates required 

 for a given gain. (548, 553) For the dairy cow there is no better 

 feed, for alfalfa hay is rich not only in crude protein but in mineral 

 matter prime requisites in milk production. (672-5) For sheep 

 feeding alfalfa hay leads the roughages, (762-6) and it can be used 

 to a limited extent with fattening hogs, and largely employed in 

 maintaining shotes and breeding swine during winter. (903) 



Understanding the composition and nature of alfalfa hay the 

 stockman can feed it to all farm animals with economy and satis- 

 faction. On every farm where stock is kept there should be an 

 effort made to grow alfalfa. If the attempt results in failure, re- 

 course should be had to red clover or some other legume. 



At the New Jersey Station 1 it was found that while alfalfa hay is 

 one of the richest of roughages and approximates bran in crude pro- 

 tein content, its fiber and coarse, bulky nature prevent its entirely 

 taking the place of such concentrates as bran, cotton-seed meal, etc., 

 with cows giving a large flow of milk. Cows fed alfalfa hay in 

 place of all the concentrates lost flesh, and their coats were less 

 smooth and glossy than those getting some meal as a part of their 

 ration. When alfalfa was used to furnish as much as 60 per ct. of 

 the crude protein usually furnished to the cows in the form of bran, 

 cotton-seed meal, etc., there was some shrinkage in milk flow, but 

 a financial saving of over 25 per ct. in the cost of producing the 

 milk. (675) 



Cottrell of the Kansas Station 2 reports that heifers wintered on 

 alfalfa hay alone made an average gain of 1.2 Ibs. per head daily, 

 returning 104 Ibs. increase for each ton of hay fed. (501) 



Alfalfa feeding has revolutionized the sheep fattening industry at 

 the West. In several districts by combining beet pulp from the 

 sugar factories with alfalfa hay, vast flocks of western range lambs 

 and sheep are economically fattened. (759) 



Cottrell 3 reports that brood sows which lived thru the winter on 

 alfalfa hay with no grain farrowed large, healthy litters of pigs in 

 the spring. Numerous trials at the western stations have established 



1 Bui. 204. 2 Bui. 114. 3 Ibid. 



