Thirty-fourth Annual Convention. ^^^ 



alfalfa, clover, soij beans, etc., quite plainly, showing there was 

 a distinct value over what there was in timothy hay, corn stover, 

 etc. 



To show you more clearly that there is more value in alfalfa 

 than in Clover hay, I will say that most of the feeds we buy to 

 balance up our corn are for the sake of the protein they contain 

 and, as I said before, protein is a stimulator of milk production 

 and a product of which milk is largely made up. Bran contains 

 12.2 per cent digestible protein, that is 12.2 lbs. digestible protein 

 in every 100 lbs. of bran; alfalfa hay contains 11 lbs. per hun- 

 dred, so you see there are only 1-.2 per cent more protein in bran 

 than in alfalfa, so that it compares very favorably, very favora- 

 bly indeed. Bran has a distinct advantage besides the protein 

 it contains because it is a laxative and keeps the bowels in a loose 

 condition, and very likely alfalfa does not contain that power to 

 the same degree. Another thing, bran is palatable and is very 

 light, and in feeding with the grain ration it lightens the ration 

 up, makes it palatable. 



I had this problem come to me forcibly when I was feeding 

 cows at the St. Louis exposition. We fed there for economical 

 results. All feed stuffs were quoted at a certain specified price, 

 — bran $18 per ton, alfalfa hay $7.50 per ton. It was quoted 

 to all of us at the same price so as to have a basis to work from. 

 Taking into consideration the fact that alfalfa hay was so nearly 

 like bran, I made up my mind if there was any way to get that 

 alfalfa into palatable form to feed with grain ration and take the 

 place of bran, we would be saved the difffference between $18 

 and $7.50 per ton, so we ran it through a cutting machine and 

 reduced it to quarter inch lengths. At every feeding time we 

 took two pounds of alfalfa hay, put it in the bottom of a gal- 

 vanized bucket, then weighed up a grain ration and put it on 

 top of that, spread it over and then inserted a steam jet, and 

 turned on a small amount of steam for about twenty seconds, 

 enough to make the stems soft and the grain adhere to the stems. 

 When we fed the cow she ate the grain and alfalfa together, and 

 I am satisfied that every pound of alfalfa the cows ate in that 

 form was more palatable than 2 lbs. of bran and we got great 

 results out of it. I will tell you why I think it was better than 

 bran; we were feeding those cows freely as high as 16 or 18 



