ALFALFA FOR CATTLE FEEDING. 



Experienced men say that whatever alfalfa may 

 or may not be adapted to it is certainly in its 

 place as a food for cattle. It is the natural food of 

 all ruminants. They greatly relish the taste of it. 

 They chew it well and almost completely digest it. 

 They are in little danger of eating too much of it. 

 Cattle thrive exceedingly on a diet of good alfalfa 

 hay. Many years ago the writer stacked alfalfa hay 

 in Utah, and in winter time fattened steers on it with 

 no grain at all. They made good beef. It would 

 have been better, no doubt, to have fed them some 

 grain in connection with the alfalfa hay, but grain 

 was not to be had. The beef sold well on Denver and 

 Salt Lake City markets in the spring. It killed well. 



Alfalfa alone is better as a maintenance ration 

 than as a complete ration, however. It is full of 

 protein, and deficient in carbohydrates and fat. It 

 will grow animals or maintain them beautifully. 

 With a little grain added it will grow them and finish 

 them at the same moment. 



Trials in Colorado. Prof. W. L. Carlyle and C. 

 J. Griffith of the Colorado experiment station went 

 into this matter quite carefully in 1905, comparing 

 alfalfa hay alone and in combination with sugar beet 

 pulp and ground corn. Unfortunately the alfalfa 

 hay used was much below the average, being very 

 coarse, cut too ripe presumably, and was seriously 



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