FEEDING ANIMALS 137 



and the relative prices of grain and hay. If they were just to be kept 

 steadily growing, a pound or two of rolled barley per head would be 

 sufficient. In recent experiments at the Pennsylvania Station beef- 

 breeding cows were wintered on a ration of about sixty pounds of 

 corn silage and one pound of cottonseed meal per head daily, on which 

 ration they gained about one and a quarter pounds per day in body 

 weight, on the average for a period of four and a half months. With 

 some pasture it would be possible to winter steers cheaply on a ration 

 like this, or on rolled barley, or barley and hay with a couple of pounds 

 of dried beet pulp. The latter feeds are our cheapest grain feeds at 

 the present time. F. W. W. 



Ten Sheep or One Cow on Five Tons Alfalfa. 



How much alfalfa hay does the average dairy cow consume in a year 

 without other feed or pasture, and how many sheep could be kept 

 on the same amount of feed under the same conditions? 



A dairy cow fed alfalfa only will eat an average of thirty pounds 

 of hay per day or about five tons of hay in a year. A sheep of medium 

 weight, on the other hand, will eat about three pounds of alfalfa hay 

 daily without grain or pasture. It is generally assumed that ten sheep 

 can be kept on the amount of feed required by one cow. F. W. W. 



Steers on Alfalfa Pasture. 



Is it true that steers and bulls zvill not bloat on alfalfa and can 

 be let to run in the fields without danger? 



Any bovine will bloat if he gets too much damp alfalfa in his 

 interior. Bulls and steers are less liable because their appetites are 

 less fierce than cows and they enjoy spending more time in looking 

 at the scenery and doing politics. 



Economy in. Chopped Alfalfa Hay. 



Will it pay to chop alfalfa hay ivhen one has silage machinery? 



If you have considerable money tied up in silo filling machinery 

 it is natural to want to use the machinery for some other purpose as 

 much as possible. This is being accomplished very profitably where 

 chopped alfalfa is also used. It is usually found that saving is made 

 through its use as the loss in feeding is a great deal less than when 

 straight hay is fed and the expense of cutting is very little. R. E. 

 Watson, manager of the Rancho Dos Rios near Modesto, has been 

 chopping his hay for over two years and states that he considers the 

 saving to be from fifteen to twenty per cent. Others report that 

 when the whole hay was used the daily waste from the mangers was 

 hauled out each day in a large cart, but since the chopped hay ration 

 has been used this loss has been reduced to the point where only a 

 very small cart load is taken out every other day. Having the 

 machinery on hand the cost of chopping is very small, an eleven-inch 

 cutter being able to cut three-quarters of a ton an hour at a cost of 



