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FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



a ton preferable to red clover at $6 a 

 ton, prairie hay at $4 or millet hay at 

 $5. Otis has pastured dairy cows on al- 

 falfa in both the spring and fall seasons. 

 Bloating — In the use of alfalfa pas- 

 tures it should be remembered that this 

 material may sometimes cause serious 

 bloating. It is necessary, therefore, to 

 allow the cows to become accustomed to 

 it gradually. A form of alfalfa bit has 

 been devised which, when placed in the 

 cow's mouth, prevents her from eating 

 the green alfalfa too fast and helps 

 slightly in some instances in allowing 

 the gases to escape. Otis failed to ob- 

 tain entirely satisfactory results with 

 the use of these bits, but considers them 

 as a slight help. Cows on alfalfa pas- 

 ture maintained a large milk flow and 

 kept their weight well. In some cases 

 they become so fond of the alfalfa as 

 to need but little grain, or even to refuse 

 the grain. The danger of bloating, how- 

 even, on alfalfa pasture should be borne 

 in mind, unless considerable experience 

 has been had with this crop. 



For silage — Otis also experimented 

 with alfalfa for silage, the first crop 

 being used for this purpose. The chief 

 reason for ensiling the first crop is that 

 at this time of year the weather is less 

 favorable for making a good quality of 

 hay. The alfalfa silage appeared not to 

 be as sour as corn silage and showed a 

 tendency to dry on exposure rather than 

 spoil. Otis reports very good results 

 from his use of the silage and considers 

 it as a suitable substitute for roots. 



Alfalfa hay is considered by Otis an 

 indispensable factor in dairying. It con- 

 tains about 11 pounds of digestible pro- 

 tein for every 100 pounds of hay and 

 may, therefore, be substituted to some 

 extent for the grain ration. Economy 

 of feeding is greatly improved by the 

 use of liberal quantities of alfalfa hay. 

 Likewise in Maryland, Doane found that 

 alfalfa was superior to silage as a food 

 for dairy cows. It is evident from these 

 experiments that wherever alfalfa can 

 be successfully raised, it constitutes a 

 very effective ration for the dairy herd, 

 being considerably better than any that 

 can be purchased. The protein in al- 

 falfa, however, is not quite as readily 

 digested as that from grain, and, there- 

 fore, the indicated value of commercial 

 alfalfa meal, which is now offered on 

 the market, must be slightly discounted 

 for practical purposes. 



A comparison of alfalfa hay with wild 

 hay, in Nebraska, showed that the al- 



falfa hay is more effective in the pro- 

 duction of milk, and butter than wild 

 hay and has a slightly greater power in 

 maintaining the weight of the cows. In 

 the experiments of Lyon and Haecker, 

 in Nebraska, it appeared that alfalfa 

 furnished less pasturage than many of 

 the annual forage crops, but influenced 

 the milk flow more favorably than any 

 other crop, except cowpeas. The average 

 daily production of milk and butter fat 

 was greater when alfalfa was pastured 

 than when it was fed as a soiling crop, 

 but the relative economy from feeding 

 the plant in these two forms will depend 

 largely on the price of labor and land. 



Alfalfa has been thoroughly tested in 

 New Jersey by Lang and Billings in 

 various amounts, depending on the other 

 materials fed at the same time. With 

 an average yield of 4.78 tons to the acre 

 of dry forage, valued at $14 a ton, the 

 receipts from an acre would amount to 

 $66.92, and the total cost of raising and 

 harvesting this crop was about $28 an 

 acre. With milk at the market price 

 of $1 a hundred pounds, the alfalfa from 

 one acre produced $117.20 worth of milk, 

 which indicates a gain over the cost of 

 production of 314 per cent. 



Alfalfa vs. grains — In a continued 

 test of alfalfa in New Jersey, it ap- 

 peared that a purchased ration contain- 

 ing bran, dried brewers' grains, cotton- 

 seed meal and corn silage produced 

 3.7 per cent more milk and 7.2 per cent 

 more butter than a ration of alfalfa hay 

 and corn silage. The home-grown al- 

 falfa ration, however, produced a saving 

 of 33.7 per cent in the cost of the milk, 

 or 4.7 cents a pound in butter. 



In Tennessee, Soule and Barnes found 

 that alfalfa would produce about 5 tons 

 of hay to the acre at a cost of from $3 

 to $5 a ton. These investigators also 

 found that alfalfa hay or cowpea hay 

 could be substituted for considerable of 

 the bran or cottonseed meal in the ration 

 for dairy cows. In making this sub- 

 stitution, V-/2 pounds of alfalfa were 

 allowed for each pound of wheat bran 

 and better residts were obtained when 

 the alfalfa was fed in a finely chopped 

 condition. Estimating the alfalfa hay 

 at $10 a ton, and wheat bran at $20 a 

 ton, the alfalfa saved $2.80 in the cost 

 of every 100 pounds of butter and 20 

 cents in every 100 pounds of milk. 

 When fed under favorable conditions, 

 alfalfa produced a gallon of milk at a 

 cost of 5.7 cents and a pound of butter 

 for 10 cents. 



