Alfalfa in Kansas. 129 



against it, it is considered that any advantage is more than offset by 

 the expense of grinding. There are some, however, who use alfalfa meal 

 in mixture with ground corn or other elements, and seem to like it. Others 

 think alfalfa meal good poultry feed. (See pages 403 to 446.) 



ALFALFA SILAGE. 



Very few growers have had experience with alfalfa as silage. One 

 man in Gray county states that he has tried it; that he did not put the 

 crop through a cutter, and that he put it into the silo in a wet condition. 

 His estimate of alfalfa as silage is, "It is fine." A Sumner county cor- 

 respondent reports having used "some" alfalfa as silage. He put it 

 through the cutter and filled the silo on the same day. His estimate of 

 alfalfa as silage is, "Good, but expensive." Then there is a Potta- 

 watomie county man who has tried using alfalfa straw for silage. It 

 was put through a cutter. He said, "Don't think it pays." From Barton 

 county comes the report of a man who "stacked alfalfa hay in the rain, 

 while it was green. It cured like silage and made good feed." The gen- 

 eral opinion among growers, however, is that well-cured hay is to be pre- 

 ferred to alfalfa silage. Some typical opinions follow: 



Atchison county:. "No better than alfalfa hay; don't keep so well; 

 not economically stored." 



Chase county: "Don't improve feed enough to justify." 



Crawford county: "No better than hay, and more work." 



Doniphan county: "Makes silage too soft." 



Pratt county: "More successful as hay." 



Riley county: "Expensive." 



Smith county: "From what I have seen it doesn't pay." 



(See pages 262 to 266.) 



PASTURING SWINE. 



Nearly four-fifths of the growers reporting pasture hogs on alfalfa. 

 This practice is equally prevalent throughout the state. Reporters esti- 

 mate that a good stand of alfalfa will comfortably pasture from eight to 

 ten average-sized hogs per acre, and at the same time yield a small 

 quantity of hay. As many as twenty small shoats are sometimes pas- 

 tured on an acre. Others report fifteen head of swine of mixed ages as 

 a reasonable number. Still another man estimates than an acre will 

 support 2500 pounds of live weight. The luxuriance of the growth and 

 the size and age of the animals are the chief limiting factors. It is im- 

 possible to lay down an ironclad rule, and the farmer will need to use 

 good judgment. As one grower expresses it, "Whenever you see that 

 the hogs are getting the best of the alfalfa, take them off." 



Here is the report of a Brown county farmer on this subject: 



"I have forty-five acres in one field, sown ten years ago. I pasture 

 40 sows and from 100 to 200 pigs in this field every season. They have 

 destroyed about two acres where they enter the field, and it has grown 

 up to grass, but they do not make much impression on the rest of the 

 field." 



