150 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



The lack of protein would be the limiting factor in the 

 clovei- and timothy ration and would cause milk production 

 to be decreased from 25 pounds of 4 per cent milk per day 

 to 121/2 pounds — a reduction of 50 per cent. For the main- 

 tenance of her body the cow requires the same amount of 

 each nutrient with either ration; the abundance of carbo- 

 hydrates and fat cannot take the place of protein; so any 

 reduction in protein acts directly to decrease the milk 

 flow, and in this case there is only protein enough above 

 maintenance to make 12 1/2 pounds of 4 per cent milk. The 

 extra carbohydrates and fat in the feed are as truly wasted 

 as if they were dumped into the gutter and slushed out 

 with the manure. The production of milk is cut right in two 

 in the middle by feeding clover and timothy hay in place 

 of alfalfa hay. Half the milk is gone, although every other 

 factor of feed and care is sufficient for the full 25 pounds 

 a day. 



To estimate what that difference in rations and loss in 

 milk means as a -total for the state or larger area, we must 

 inquire how generally the clover and timothy ration is used 

 for dairy cows; and its use is indicated by the relative acre- 

 ages of these different hay crops grown. 



Mixed Hay and Alfalfa 10 to 1. 



The 1920 census shows that in the seven states — Ohio, 

 Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois — 

 which comprise the most productive region in the country, 

 only one-half of one per cent of the improved land is in al- 

 falfa. For every hundred acres of improved land in this re- 

 gion, but one-half an acre is in alfalfa and 7.8 acres are 

 growing clover and timothy. 



In Illinois there is just one-third of an acre out of 

 every hundred of improved land in alfalfa and nearly ten 

 times this amount in clover and timothy. 



In the five intensive dairy counties of northeastern Illi- 

 nois — Cook, Lake, McHenry, Kane and DuPage — there are 

 but 1.6 acres out of every hundred of improved land in 

 alfalfa and 7 acres in clover and timothy. 



So the mixed hay acreage is fifteen times the alfalfa 



