FEEDING VALUE OF THE HAY. 



Alfalfa has high feeding value. This arises from 

 its digestibility and its composition. Alfalfa is rich 

 in digestible protein. Protein is the substance in 

 foods that goes to build red flesh and blood, to make 

 nerve and brain. There is much bone-making ma- 

 terial in alfalfa also. Thus alfalfa is a builder of 

 tissue, of muscle, bone, nerve, brain. It is a food 

 rich in nitrogen, the prime component of protein. 

 It is because gf its alliance with the bacteria that 

 it is able to store itself so full of this nitrogen. We 

 have no other forage so good, so rich in protein. 

 And protein in foods is what costs. Carbon is cheap 

 enough. We get carbon, the heat-maker, the stuff 

 that makes fat, in com (maize), in most sorts of hay, 

 in alfalfa also, as it has nearly enough of carbon 

 or carbohydrates to make it a balanced ration in 

 itself. 



Protein the Costly Food Element. — Protein we 

 must have. Especially do we need it when we are 

 growing any sort of young animals or making milk 

 or farming for eggs. One can not possibly get 

 growth or milk without protein in Etbundant supply 

 in the ration. If he is dependent on corn for his 

 chief food supply he must buy his protein. A great 

 many farmers and dairymen are buying theirs. 

 They buy wheat bran, about as rich in protein as 



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