SWEET CLOVER: UTILIZATION. 27 



The results of these various experiments are being duplicated 

 every year by many feeders. Each year in the Middle West and 

 Xorthwest many cattle that bring high prices are being fed with 

 no other roughage than sweet-clover hay. Steers which have been 

 pastured entirely on sweet clover have brought in the Chicago mar- 

 ket $1 per hundredweight more than ordinary grass-pastured stock 

 marketed from the same locality and at the same time. 



Excellent results were obtained in Lee County, 111., from feed- 

 ing steers sweet-clover silage made from plants which had matured 

 a seed crop. For this experiment 91 head of steers 2 and 3 

 years old, averaging 1,008 pounds per head, were purchased at the 

 Kansas City stockyards on November 16, 1915, at a cost of $6.30 

 per hundred. These steers were shipped to a farm at Steward 

 and immediately turned on 120 acres of cornstalks. They were 

 fed nothing in addition to the cornstalks until January 14, 1916, 

 when they were put into the feed lot. While they were not weighed 

 when turned into the feed lot, the owner of the steers stated that in 

 his estimation they had gained but little, if any. During the 60 

 days these steers were in the feed lot they were fed 25 bushels of 

 snapped corn twice a day and as much sweet-clover silage as they 

 would eat. These animals had access to sweet-clover straw during 

 the first part of the feeding period, but after this was consumed they 

 had only oat straw as roughage. At the end of the feeding period 

 they were sold on the Chicago market at the average price of $8.25 

 per hundred, netting approximately $35 per head. The average 

 weight of these steers in the Chicago yards was 1,177 pounds, 169 

 pounds more than when purchased in Kansas City. 



A most remarkable feature of this experiment is the fact that the 

 steers were fed almost entirely material which would have been con- 

 sidered of little value by the average farmer. The corn which was 

 fed tested 44 per cent moisture at the Rochelle, 111., elevator, and 20 

 cents per bushel was the best price offered for it. 



Presumably on account of wet weather during the fall of 1915, the 

 sweet-clover seed crop was a failure in that section ; in fact, the crop 

 had been cut for seed and part had been thrashed before it was 

 decided that the seed yield was not sufficient to pay for the thrashing. 

 The remainder of the crop was then run into the silo and fed to the 

 steers. The leaves fall and the stems of this plant become hard and 

 woody as the seed matures. The crop therefore would have been 

 worthless for feed had it not been placed in the silo. As a rule, 

 stock readily eat sweet-clover straw when the stems are broken and 

 crushed by the hulling -machines. The sweet-clover straw which 

 was used as roughage during the first part of the feeding period 

 was from that part of the seed crop which had been thrashed. 



An interesting feeding experiment was conducted on a farm at 

 Rochelle, 111. On September 7, 1913, 29 head of 2-year-old steers, 



