152 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



These 26 dairy farms, representing the best, are grow- 

 ing only one-third enough alfalfa to supply during the win- 

 ter the cows kept on them. Only seven of the farms had 

 enough legumes for the cows; 73 per cent came short. 



The Greatest Opportunity for Advancement. 



All this data clearly indicate that the most backward 

 feature today on the dairy farms of America is the lack of 

 alfalfa and clover. And the greatest necessity and oppor- 

 tunity for advancement today is to grow ten times more 

 alfalfa. It was done to good eifect and proved thoroughly 

 practical through all the variations of six years in the Milk 

 Per Acre demonstration sketched in this series. 



Cows Make Money Chewing Alfalfa. Profits are 34 to 1. 



Doubling the cow's production for the winter feeding 

 period by simply growing the right crops and feeding the 

 better ration — and doing it by practical and economic farm 

 methods via the alfalfa route — seems well worth our study 

 and effort. But in the light of the profits in the business, it 

 takes on much higher meaning. Illinois Circular No. 134 

 contains a table for computing the profit and loss of cows 

 when their production is known. It is an approximately 

 correct index today for cows kept under ordinary farm con- 

 ditions, and it shows a six months' profit of $21.25 for the 

 alfalfa-fed cows producing 25 pounds milk per day, and a 

 six months' profit of $.621/2 ^or the clover-and-timothy-fed 

 cow producing 12 1/2 pounds of milk per day. To make the 

 same amount of profit during this winter feeding period 

 and with the same quality of cows, a farmer feeding the 

 clover and timothy ration would have to keep 34 times as 

 many cows as the farmer feeding the alfalfa ration. A herd 

 of 25 cows fed the ration containing the alfalfa would make 

 exactly as much profit as would a herd of 850 cows fed the 

 ration where the hay was clover and timothy. 



The man who fed the ration containing the clover and 

 timothy would need 34 times as many acres of corn and 

 oats as the man feeding the ration containing the alfalfa 

 because he would need 34 times as many cows. 



