54 AIvFALPA 



the steers to eat all they will, beginning with an allow- 

 ance of two or three pounds of alfalfa hay per day per 

 animal. ' ' Slowly increase the alfalfa, until at the end 

 of two weeks the steers may be allowed to eat all they 

 will. The other hay may then be withdrawn. A 

 limited number of experiments indicate that the best 

 gains may be secured by feeding the hay and grain 

 together. To do this the grain-boxes should be made 

 twice as deep as usual, as seen in Fig. 9. The alfalfa 

 hay should be placed in the bottom of the boxes, the 

 corn thrown on it, and then the hay and corn mixed 

 together. Fed in this way steers seldom get off feed 

 nor are they troubled with scours, and apparently 

 better gains are made for food consumed. At the 

 Kansas Experiment Station, in the winter of 1 899-1 900, 

 eighty head of steers, fed corn and alfalfa hay in this 

 way, made about two pounds gain per day each, on an 

 average of seventeen pounds of grain per day per 

 steer." A load of feed of alfalfa and corn, weighed 

 up and on the way to the feed-lots, is shown in Fig. 10. 

 This load contains feed for eighty head of steers. In 

 Fig. II are seen steers at the Kansas Experiment 

 Station eating chopped alfalfa and corn-meal mixed. 

 These steers made a gain of 2.52 pounds per day for 

 116 days, requiring only i, 100 pounds of feed for each 

 100 pounds of increase. 



AlvFALFA FOR SWINE 



The hog is much more of a grass animal by nature 

 than it has, in many cases, any chance to be under 

 domestication. The successful feeder, however, recog- 

 nizes the fadl that the most profitable gains can be 

 made on good pasture with, a small allowance of grain 



