28 



CIRCULAR 443, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



duction (17,517 pounds) under full feed conditions with grain. The 

 dried grass contained 14.8 percent of protein and 28.1 percent of crude 

 fiber. 



It seems reasonable to conclude that dehydrated immature forage 

 can be substituted for as much as one-third to one-fourth of the rough- 

 age part of the ration and two-thirds of the grain ration for cows 

 producing at the rate of 30 pounds or more of 4-percent fat-corrected 

 milk daily. At lower rates of production, the dehydrated immature 

 forage could be substituted for all the grain in the ration. 



Whether such a practice would be feasible is largely a matter of 

 economics. If the dried forage can be purchased or produced at a 

 cost midway between the cost of a good grade of alfalfa hay and the 

 cost of a grain ration of 18-percent protein content, it can be used on 

 the same basis as these feeds. 



In an experiment conducted at the Agricultural Kesearch Center 

 in 1948, alfalfa was harvested at the usual hay stage and preserved 

 by three different methods: (1) Wilted silage, (2) barn-dried hay, 

 dried with heated air, and (3) dehydrated hay. Less protein, carotene, 

 and dry matter was lost by the dehydration method than by the other 

 methods. In feeding trials the dehydrated hay proved to be slightly 

 more palatable than the wilted silage or barn-dried hay, but milking 

 cows produced equally well on all three kinds of forage. 



In experiments at the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, sun-cured hay and dehydrated hay from the same field were fed 

 on an equal dry-matter basis to dairy heifers to study the rate of gain 

 in body weight. The results are shown in table 8. In these experi- 

 ments the dehydrated hay proved to be more palatable than the sun- 

 cured hay, and it produced better gains. 



Interest is now developing in the possible use of pelleted dehy- 

 drated forage for dairy cattle. The pellets vary from one-fourth to 

 one inch in diameter. Forages in this form can be shipped at lower 

 freight costs than baled hay. It is possible that the pelleted forage 

 can be used as feed for dairy cattle in much the same way as dehy- 

 drated young forage, that is, as a substitute for some of the grain and 

 roughage in the dairy ration. Pelleting gets away from the dustiness 

 of ground or finely chopped forage. In preliminary experiments by 

 the Bureau of Dairy Industry, growing heifers have consumed about 

 as much dry matter from the pelleted form of forage as from field- 

 cured hay. 



Table 8. — Effect of method of curing hay on gain in toeight of dairy heifers 





Days on 

 experi- 

 ment 



Number of 

 animals 

 on experi- 

 ment 



Average daily gain 



Kind of hay- 



Dehydrated 

 hay 



Sun-cured 

 hay 



Oat hay 



86 

 138 

 138 



56 

 136 



89 



26 

 18 



28 



U8 



28 



10 



Pounds 

 1.46 

 1.44 

 1.17 

 1.30 

 1.22 

 1.19 



Pounds 

 1.17 





1.34 



Do. 



1.02 



Mixed timothy and clover 



1.11 



Do 



.988 



Alfalfa 



1.11 







Large. » Small. 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1950 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office 

 Washington 25, D. C. - Price 10 cents 



