428 Kansas State Board of Agriculture. 



ground will be kept more shaded which will hold the weeds in check. Any 

 weeds which start will be destroyed and fresh a supply of new shoots will 

 be available to the hogs. Even under the best management it will be 

 necessary to reseed the fields from time to time, as the stand will be more 

 or less thinned by tramping and rooting. 



All experimental and practical results indicate that the farmer who 

 is most successful in the production of market hogs is the one who makes 

 large use of alfalfa both as a pasture and as a hay crop. Where alfalfa 

 does not furnish a major portion of the rations used a successful hog 

 farm may undoubtedly be established and maintained, but the expense for 

 mill feeds and the use of corn could be largely reduced, thus increasing 

 profits to the maximum if alfalfa entered into the system of management 

 and feeding. Considering the length of the pasture season, the conditions 

 under which it may be grown, its adaptability to all classes of hogs, and 

 the economy of producing pork, alfalfa stands without a peer. (See 

 "Swine," in index.) 



ALFALFA AS A HORSE AND MULE FEED. 



By W. C. McCAMPBELL, Assistant Professor of Animal Husbandry, 

 Kansas State Agricultural College. 



Statistics show that Kansas had 34,384 acres seeded to alfalfa in 1891, 

 while the report for 1914 shows 1,193,641 acres, an increase of 3371 

 per cent. This tremendous increase in alfalfa production is the result of 

 a rapidly growing appreciation of the feeding value of the alfalfa plant, 

 and with such a wonderful increase one might be led to believe that every 

 possible use had been made of alfalfa as a food for live stock, but such is 

 not the case, for we are just beginning to realize its immense value in our 

 horse-feeding operations, especially in the feeding of work horses. The 

 prejudice against feeding alfalfa hay to work horses is an honest senti- 

 ment, many times based upon personal experience, but in practically every 

 case the unsatisfactory experiences have resulted from a lack of proper 

 understanding of the nutritive value and physical properties of the alfalfa 

 plant. For this reason a brief discussion of the chemical and nutritive 

 constituents of alfalfa will be given. 



The nutritive elements that must be taken into consideration in plac- 

 ing a value on any feed are protein, carbohydrates and fats. Of the 

 three, protein is the most important, the most expensive, and, when fed 

 in excessive quantities, causes the most trouble; hence the necessity of 

 giving special attention to the protein content of all feeds used in com- 

 pounding a ration. A comparison of the available amounts of protein, 

 carbohydrates and fats of alfalfa hay and some of our more common feed- 

 stuffs, reveals the fact that alfalfa hay is very rich in protein. This is 

 shown in the following table : 



