Value of Various Feeding Stuffs. 



351 



age. "Alfalfa hay and corn-and-cob meal form a most excellent ra- 

 tion for fattening steers," is the conclusion reached by these investi- 

 gators. (545) 



Burtis of the Oklahoma Station 1 reports that alfalfa-fed steers 

 made about 16 per ct. faster gain and required from one-fourth to 

 one-third less grain for a given gain than steers fed kafir stover. 



550. Alfalfa hay v. prairie hay. At the Nebraska Station 2 Smith 

 fed 2 lots, each of ten 2-year-old grade Short-horn steers averaging 

 932 Ibs., for 168 days on the rations shown in the table: 



Alfalfa hay compared with prairie hay. 



By the table we are shown that each steer receiving alfalfa hay 

 and shelled corn made 0.4 Ib. more gain daily and required 14 per 

 ct. less grain for a given gain than those getting prairie hay. In a 

 similar trial with yearlings, 3 it was found that 27 per ct. less grain 

 was required when alfalfa hay was used in place of prairie hay. 



551. Alfalfa v. sorghum and kafir hay. At the Kansas Station 4 

 Haney found in trials with lots of 8 steers each fed 152 days that 

 alfalfa was greatly superior to either sorghum hay or kafir hay v/hen 

 either corn-and-cob meal or kafir meal was fed as the concentrate. 

 One bushel (70 Ibs.) of corn-and-cob meal fed with alfalfa hay as 

 roughage produced 11.8 Ibs. of gain, while with sorghum hay it gave 

 only 6.3 Ibs. gain, and with kafir hay 7.1 Ibs. gain. (222) 



552. Alfalfa hay v. linseed oil meal. Smith of the Nebraska Sta- 

 tion 5 compared alfalfa hay with linseed oil meal in 2 trials conducted 

 with a total of 40 steers, divided into 2 lots of 20 each. He concludes : 

 li A relatively small quantity of alfalfa hay will supply sufficient pro- 

 tein to insure good gains on 2-yr.-old steers, and this can be produced 

 on the farm much cheaper than it can be purchased on the market 

 in the form of linseed meal or some other protein concentrate. ' ' 



1 Rpt. 1901. 



2 Bui. 90. 



8 Nebr. Sta., Bui. 85. 

 4 Bui. 132. 



Bui. 100. 



