78 FOR BETTER CROPS 



his aid this crop that is, par excellence, the one best suited to his 

 use. While there is some danger in grazing- alfalfa with sheep 

 or cows, there is none whatever in grazing it with horses, and 

 thus not only the best but the cheapest possible development 

 may be secured. 



Alfalfa for the Dairy Herd— Calves grown on alfalfa develop 

 rapidly and are ready to become mothers earlier than when 

 developed on other foods. Pregnant cows fed alfalfa come in 

 strong and well nourished, with full udders. Milking cows 

 fed alfalfa hay as part of their ration give milk as with no other 

 possible combination. Not to go into figures or tables of per- 

 centages, suffice it to say that alfalfa leaves are a little richer 

 in protein than wheat bran, that alfalfa stems, cut early and 

 nicely cured, are nearly as digestible as wheat bran, and nearly 

 as palatable. Thus alfalfa may well take the place of a large 

 part of the grain ration, and may be made to form nearly the 

 whole of the needed protein. Thus not only is the ration very 

 greatly cheapened, but the animals give far greater returns than 

 when they do not have alfalfa hay. On most farms in the corn 

 belt there is a decided scarcity of foods rich in protein. Corn 

 itself is deficient, and enough corn can not be fed to cows 

 to make them give their greatest amount of milk; whereas if the 

 attempt is made, disaster results because the excess of fat form- 

 ing food consumed leads to disorders of digestion or makes' the 

 cow herself too fat to be long a profitable dairy animal. Further- 

 more, the corn fodder and stover, the timothy hay and blue 

 grass, the oat straw, sorghum, silage, nearly the whole list of 

 common farm crops that can be grown for the dairy, are deficient 

 in protein, so that alfalfa has for the dairy farmer a very great 

 value, coming as it does to balance up these other more fattening 

 and heat-making provenders. This is not mere theory, but a 

 fact most abundantly proven by experience in the west, in the 

 middle states and later in the heart of the best dairying section, 

 through New York, Pennsylvania, and New England, where 

 some of the farmers are producing their own alfalfa, and others 

 are securing it from their more fortunate brothers of the west. 

 The writer has himself sent alfalfa hay to a gentleman milking 

 one of the best herds of Guernseys in America, animals fed as 

 well as science and skill could devise, and had word afterward 

 that the addition of alfalfa hay to their ration made an increase 

 in milk yield of twenty per cent! 



Alfalfa and Silage the Cheapest Dairy Ration— With good 

 alfalfa hay and good sweet corn silage, made from corn that has 

 been allowed to mature well before being harvested, the cheapest 

 and best milk yields are secured. With this ration tliere is 

 indeed very little need of any other grain. That great dairy 

 authority, ex-Governor Hoard, has found in practice that with 



