158 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



alfalfa hay to support a cow for the summer six months. 

 Since it takes less than .75 of an acre of sweet clover pas- 

 ture (including both years) to support a cow six months, 

 there would still be a fifth of an acre on which to grow feed 

 to supplement the pasture. This would furnish about four 

 times the amount of corn meal per cow per day that was fed 

 on the twenty acres. So, without increasing the acreage, 

 enough emergency feed, either corn or alfalfa or both, 

 could be grown. It is doubtless best to allow seven-eighths 

 of an acre of sweet clover pasture per cow so as to have an 

 abundant supply of sweet clover and then little grain feed 

 will be necessary. 



A Great Saving of Labor. 



The average cost of producing corn and putting it into 

 the silo last year was $22.75 per acre. The cost of putting 

 up alfalfa hay was $12.40 and if it were done properly with 

 caps, it would certainly increase the cost to $15.00. The 

 average expense for growing and putting up corn silage and 

 alfalfa hay would be $18.87 per acre. But in comparison, 

 the sweet clover costs nothing for harvesting, the seed cost 

 per acre is small, it is seeded with the regular small grain 

 crop, and it saves all the labor of feeding. 



