150 SILAGE CROPS. 



dairymen, as in years of heavy crops the surplus can be stored in 

 silos for years of drouth, making all years good crop years for silo 

 dairymen." 



Alfalfa (lucerne) is the great, coarse forage plant of the West, 

 and during late years it ha's been grown considerably in the North- 

 ern and Central States. In irrigated, districts it will yield more 

 food materials per acre of land than perhaps any other crop. Four 

 to five cuttings, each yielding a ton to a ton and a half of hay, are 

 common in these regions, and the yields obtained are often much 

 higher. In humid regions three cuttings may ordinarily be ob- 

 tained, each of one to one and a half tons of hay. 



Much has been written regarding the mixture of alfalfa with 

 other crops in the silo to secure a balanced ration. It is true that 

 there is perhaps no crop better than alfalfa for balancing corn 

 silage. But the best practice among Western feeders and colleges 

 is to supply this ration in the dry form. In this way it furnishes 

 the necessary roughage to neutralize the succulence of the silage, 

 and enables the feeder to balance his feed to suit the needs of dif- 

 ferent animals or different classes of stock. 



Alfalfa finds its greatest friend in the silo in seasons when for 

 any reason it cannot be properly cured. It may then be siloed and 

 preserved to great advantage. 



While the large bulk of the crop is cured as hay, alfalfa is 

 nevertheless of considerable importance as a silage crop in dairy 

 and beef sections of the Western States. As with red clover, re- 

 ports of failure in siloing alfalfa are on record, but first-class 

 alfalfa silage can be readily made in deep, modern silos, when the 

 crop is cut when in full bloom, and the plants are not allowed to 

 wilt much before being run through a cutter and siloed. In the 

 opinion of the dairymen who have had large experience in siloing 

 alfalfa, sweet alfalfa silage is more easily made than good alfalfa 

 hay. 



A general summary of alfalfa silage experiments at the Col- 

 orado experiment station states that under the best of ordinary 

 conditions, for every hundred pounds of feeding value in green 

 alfalfa at the time it is cut, 77 pounds will be saved if the hay is 

 well cured and put in a stack under good conditions. If it is put 

 into the barn, 86 pounds will be saved and 90 pounds if it is made 

 into first-class silage. The extra cost of putting it up as silage is 



