ALFALFA FOR GATTLE 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 serious!y 
(380) 
