The Book of Alfalfa: History, Cultivation and Merits: Its Uses as a Forage and FertilizerCoburn, F. D. (Foster Dwight)
History
The Book of Alfalfa: History, Cultivation and Merits: Its Uses as a Forage and Fertilizer
Coburn, F. D. (Foster Dwight)
Alfalfa
“Students working with the dairy herd were anxious to have the cows make
the best possible yields, and were tempted to give all the good alfalfa
hay the cows would eat. When we discovered the alfalfa hay going too
rapidly we looked for the cause and found that the dairy cows had
consumed an average of forty-three pounds per head daily, besides
fifteen pounds of Kafir corn fodder. The quantity of alfalfa was reduced
to thirty-three pounds and the Kafir-corn fodder to three and one-half
pounds daily per cow, and we found that the daily yield of milk was
slightly increased. The quality of the hay was the same in both
instances. In the latter case it was eaten up clean, while in the former
considerable was hauled away and fed to dry cows. Later records show a
still greater reduction in the allowance of alfalfa without decreasing
the flow of milk. This experience shows some of the leaks that may take
place in feeding roughness, especially when those feeds are appetizing,
like alfalfa and red clover.
“For ease of calculation the roughness is figured on the basis of
alfalfa hay selling for one dollar per ton. When alfalfa is worth six
dollars per ton the other rough feeds are worth six times the amount
indicated in the table; when alfalfa is worth eight dollars per ton the
other feeds are worth eight times as much, and so on. Usually we find
that we can give practically all the rough feed that the cows can eat,
although, as indicated above, with a good quality of alfalfa or clover
hay more may be eaten than will be consumed at a profit. At this writing
alfalfa hay is selling in Manhattan at seven dollars per ton. This would
make the feeding values of the other rough feeds worth seven times the
amount indicated in the table. Red clover, for instance, would be worth
seven times seventy cents or $4.90 per ton; prairie hay would be worth
$3.57 per ton; and millet hay would be worth $4.48 per ton. If the
problem was to select the most economical roughness, we would select
alfalfa at seven dollars per ton, in preference to red clover at six
dollars per ton, or prairie hay at four dollars per ton, or millet at
five dollars per ton. Knowing the cost of these different rough feeds
and having this table before him, a feeder can tell which is the most
economical feed to use. It will be noticed that the table is divided
into two parts, the first part giving the value of the total nutrients,
and the second one the value of the protein nutrients. It frequently
happens that we have plenty of carbohydrates and fat, but that we are
lacking in protein. In this case we would consult the ‘protein
nutrients’ column in order to determine what feed to buy in order to
furnish the protein most economically. If it be carbohydrates and fat as
well as protein that is required, as was the condition in the dry year
of 1901, then we should take the total nutrients’ column. When it is
possible to get a rough feed containing a large amount of protein, we
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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