Chapter VI: Part 6

Alfalfa hay has much the same laxative effect as June pasture. An Elgin, Ill., dairyman, with fifty cows, says: “Every month I feed alfalfa in winter gives me a month in which I have practically pasture conditions. The cows show the pasture-effect in the glossy condition of their hair and in the yield of milk, and have never before looked quite so well.”

_CHAPTER XIII._

Alfalfa for Swine

HOGS WILL EAT HAY

In the preceding chapter it was stated that alfalfa is a valuable pasture or soiling crop for pigs. It is equally true that they will actually eat alfalfa hay. A hog is not usually ranked as a hay-eating animal but an exception must be made as to his eating alfalfa hay. As a pasture or soiling crop for sows and young pigs, alfalfa proves a wonderfully helpful ration for milk-making in the sow and for growth in the pigs. Experiments have shown that pigs make better growth when the dam is fed considerable alfalfa than those from sows fed the best of commercial rations, but with no alfalfa. Given two sets of pigs, one fed clover, rape and soaked corn and the other fed only alfalfa forage, the latter seemed to grow the more rapidly. For brood sows it is a most valuable food, either as hay, a soiling crop, or as pasture. The litters of such sows are generally large and vigorous and the dams have a strong flow of nutritious milk. Alfalfa meal in slop may be used with profit where the hay is not to be obtained. It is also claimed that sows fed on alfalfa during pregnancy will not devour their young, its mineral elements seeming to satisfy the appetite of the sow, while contributing to the fetal development of the pigs.

at the time of its third cutting. September 8, and its root development. Grown at Manhattan, Kansas, on upland prairie having a heavy clay subsoil]

Beginning on the left the seed was sown August 19, September 15 and October 1 respectively. All were dug up April 13 of the following spring. Nebraska Experiment Station Bulletin 84]

On a farm of Governor Hoard, in Wisconsin, all the brood sows have for several years been wintered on alfalfa hay of the third cutting, and their drink, without any grain until the last two weeks of gestation. Mr. Hoard says the object was to give the sows a food that should keep them in a non-feverish state and furnish protein sufficient to build the bodies of the forthcoming pigs. (Their “drink” was the skim milk from the dairy.)

“It was a matter of experiment at first, our only guide being what knowledge and reason we could exercise from what we knew, or thought we knew, of the philosophy of gestation. The experiment proved to be a success from the first. The sows went through their work in fine condition, giving milk abundantly. The pigs came with splendid vitality, thus reducing our losses from early death fully 30 per cent over what they had previously been. The hay is fed dry and is thrown into the pen on the feeding floor without any cutting or chaffing whatever. We have sometimes thought we would try the experiment of cutting it into half-inch lengths and moistening it. Possibly it would take less hay in this way. The sows keep in good flesh, fully as much so as we like.”

A Finney county, Kansas, farmer reports having pastured 30 pigs on one acre of alfalfa from May 1st to September 1st, when they weighed 100 pounds each and were in fine condition for fattening. Another Kansas farmer reports keeping 100 pigs from about the middle of April to September on five acres of alfalfa pasture. A little grain during the last two months would have gained him many pounds of pork. Many alfalfa raising pig-growers insist that their pigs can be maintained from May to October on alfalfa for one-half what it would cost for almost any other feed.

The Utah station found that young shoats gained one-third of a pound a day on alfalfa pasture without grain. But the station found also that the gain was not so great in older hogs. A Wisconsin dairyman reported that he kept nine sows all winter and spring on alfalfa hay and skim milk, without any grain, and raised from them 75 pigs, all healthy and vigorous.

The Colorado station considers that a ration of three-fourths corn and one-fourth alfalfa hay is the best for fattening hogs for market, but for young hogs not ready for fattening the proportions should be reversed. The station does not recommend grinding alfalfa hay for hogs, probably on the theory that the hog’s time is not worth much at best.

A VALUABLE FEEDING TEST

The Kansas station in the fall of 1898 made a series of experiments of interest to feeders everywhere. The test was to determine the value of alfalfa hay fed to fattening hogs that were receiving all the grain they would eat. The results are related here in the language of the bulletin:

“The hogs fed in this experiment were bought of farmers, and averaged in weight 125 pounds each. They were placed in lots of ten each, in large pens, having for shelter some sheds open to the south. The alfalfa hay used was of the best quality, carefully cured. Blackhulled White Kafir-corn was the grain used, the hogs being fed all they would eat without waste. The hay was fed dry in forkfuls in a large flat trough. The pigs were given more than they could eat, and they picked out the leaves and finer stems, rejecting the coarser stems. One lot of hogs was fed Kafir-corn meal dry and alfalfa hay; one lot whole Kafir-corn dry; one lot Kafir-corn meal dry, and one lot Kafir-corn meal wet.

“The experiment began on November 24 and lasted nine weeks. By that time the alfalfa-fed hogs became well fattened, and were marketed. We estimated that it would require four to five weeks additional feeding, with ordinary weather, to get the hogs that were fed grain alone into good marketable condition.

“The gain in nine weeks from the different methods of feeding were as follows:

Gains per hog
in pounds
Kafir-corn meal dry and alfalfa hay 90.9
Kafir-corn whole 59.4
Kafir-corn meal fed dry 52.4
Kafir-corn meal fed wet 63.3

“The gain from feeding alfalfa hay with Kafir-corn meal fed dry, over the meal alone fed dry, is more than 73 per cent.

“The gains per bushel of feed were as follows:

Pounds
Kafir-corn meal dry and 7.83 pounds alfalfa hay 10.88
Kafir-corn whole 8.56
Kafir-corn meal fed dry 7.48
Kafir-corn meal fed wet 8.09

“Ten hogs in nine weeks were fed 656 pounds of alfalfa hay; and as shown above, for each 7.83 pounds of alfalfa hay fed with the dry Kafir-corn meal, the hogs gained 3.4 pounds over those having dry Kafir-corn meal alone--a gain of 868 pounds of pork per ton of alfalfa hay. These results are not due to the feeding value of the alfalfa alone, but also to its influence in aiding the hogs to better digest the Kafir-corn. The alfalfa hay also gave a variety to the ration, making it more appetizing and inducing the hogs to eat more grain. The ten hogs having grain alone ate 3885 pounds of dry Kafir-corn meal, while the ten hogs having hay and grain ate 4679 pounds of the Kafir-corn meal and 656 pounds of alfalfa hay. The hay-fed hogs ate more grain and gained more for each bushel eaten.

“In a former experiment pigs were pastured through the summer on alfalfa with a light feeding of corn. After deducting the probable gain from the corn, the gain per acre from the alfalfa pasture was 776 pounds of pork.

“These facts indicate that to produce pork most cheaply the Kansas farmer must have alfalfa pasture in summer and alfalfa hay in winter.”

The Kansas station also found in another test that one acre of alfalfa produced pork worth $20.30, while one acre of rape produced pork worth $10.05.

The Iowa station director estimated that one acre of alfalfa pastured was worth at least three acres of blue-grass for pigs. It is claimed by Kansas farmers that an average acre of alfalfa will pasture 15 pigs, while some report having pastured 20 or more pigs per acre. Those who have used alfalfa as a soiling crop for pigs admit, however, that one acre so utilized is equal to two if not three used as pasture.

It is argued by feeders that as many hogs may profitably be allowed with cattle that are being fattened on corn and alfalfa as when fed corn alone, as the feeders believe in cleaning out the feed-racks every few days and giving the left-over stems to the hogs. If necessary, a little corn is added to the hog ration.

A NEBRASKA TEST

The Nebraska experiment station, from a hog-feeding test made in 1903 reported the following:

“With the alfalfa hay worth $7 per ton, the leaves, containing 40 per cent more protein, would be worth approximately $10 per ton. The shorts cost $12.50 per ton delivered. The dairy department charged 15 cents per hundred for the skim milk used. Corn was delivered to the barns at 30 cents per bushel. Adding the usual rate of 6 cents per hundred for grinding, the corn meal cost $12 per ton. At these prices, each hundred pounds of gain in the several lots cost as follows:

Lot 1, corn alone $4.48
Lot 2, corn and skim milk 3.97
Lot 3, corn and shorts 3.53
Lot 4, corn and alfalfa 3.40

“This experiment shows that at the market prices quoted and the proportions used in the experiment, skim milk will make corn bring four cents more per bushel, wheat shorts eight cents more, and alfalfa leaves nine cents more. Assuming that only five per cent of the 252,520,173 bushels of corn produced in Nebraska this year is being fed to hogs as a single food, these figures would go to show that $1,000,000 more wealth would be added to the state if wheat shorts or alfalfa were substituted for one-fifth of the corn fed.”

CUT ALFALFA EARLY FOR HOGS

It is especially important that alfalfa intended to be fed to hogs should be cut early. An experiment at the Kansas station showed that a ton of early cut and well-cured alfalfa, fed with grain, produced 868 pounds of pork while a ton late cut and poorly cured, fed with grain, produced only 333 pounds. For fattening hogs it is well to feed about one ton of well-cured alfalfa hay with each 250 bushels of grain.

Farmer’s Bulletin No. 215 of the United States Department of Agriculture declares that alfalfa is an ideal pasture plant for hogs. “There is no danger from bloat and with a limited number of hogs there is practically no injury to the alfalfa field. Vigorous alfalfa will support 15 to 25 head of pigs per acre. It is best to limit the number of pigs to that which will be insufficient to keep down an alfalfa field. Cuttings of hay may then be made at intervals and the growth thus rejuvenated. On the average pigs weighing 30 to 60 pounds in the spring will make a gain of about 100 pounds each during the season. Although pigs may be grown and fattened upon alfalfa alone, it is best to combine the alfalfa with some kind of a grain ration. Alfalfa by itself is too rich in protein to give a balanced ration. Where pigs are pastured upon alfalfa alone they may be prepared for the market by feeding for a few weeks upon corn. It is still better, however, to feed a third to a half of a ration of corn or other grain during the time of pasturing.”

The great mistake made by too many who attempt to pasture swine on alfalfa is in overstocking. There is a tendency to keep within a small pasture more stock than it can comfortably support, with the result that the stand is gnawed, trampled and rooted out, while the animals fail to prosper as they would under more rational treatment.

One of the most extensive and successful swine raisers in Kansas tells the author this: “Twenty-five years of pasturing hogs of all ages on alfalfa has proven conclusively to me that with a fourth to a half grain ration, while they are on such pasture, will produce in them a greater growth per day than when in dry lots on full feeds of corn. Hogs will maintain a reasonable growth, but not fatten much, on alfalfa pasture alone; I believe it profitable to feed them some grain while running on green alfalfa. If it is desired to full-feed hogs, they will make a rapid fattening growth by increasing the grain ration while on the pasture, and with the full grain ration the meat will be nearly as firm as those of the dry lot, where grain alone has been fed. I find no distinction on the market between alfalfa-fed swine and those purely grain-fed, and they sell price and price alike. The general health of the alfalfa-fed hogs is equal to that of those maintained on any other feed, and they are prolific.”

The Kansas station realized $11.90 per acre from rape pasture and $24.10 per acre from alfalfa pasture in ninety-eight days. These results were obtained from the following experiments, which were begun July 25 and concluded October 31.

Thirty shoats, averaging fifty-two pounds in weight, were divided as nearly equally as possible into three lots of ten each. Lot I was fed on a grain mixture of shorts one-half, corn meal one-fourth, and Kafir-corn meal one-fourth, in a dry lot. The other two lots were fed the same grain ration, but one received rape pasture and the other alfalfa pasture in addition. Each lot was given what grain the hogs would eat up clean, and each had access to water and ashes. The weights of grain consumed and gains made are as follows:

--------------------+---------+--------+---------------
| Grain | Total |Grain consumed
Feed | consumed|gain, in| per 100 lbs.
|in pounds| pounds |gain, in pounds
--------------------+---------+--------+---------------
I. No pasture | 3,801 | 1,023 | 371
II. Rape pasture | 3,244 | 1,076 | 301
III. Alfalfa pasture| 3,244 | 1,078 | 300
--------------------+---------+--------+---------------

The gains of the three lots are very nearly equal. The dry lot consumed 557 pounds (or seventy pounds for every 100 pounds of gain) more grain than the pasture lots. The lot on rape required one acre of pasture, while the alfalfa lot used a trifle less than one-half acre.

The lot without pasture required 3.71 pounds of grain to produce one pound of gain. Assigning the same value to the grain fed the hogs on rape pasture, we have 877 pounds of pork credited to the grain and 199 pounds credited to the rape. At six cents per pound, the price at which hogs were selling at the close of the experiment, this would be a credit of $11.90 per acre for the rape. In a similar manner, the alfalfa is credited with 201 pounds of pork, equal to $12.05, and as there was only a half-acre of alfalfa, this makes a rate of $24.10 per acre.

The cost of preparing the seed bed and seeding the rape was $1.80 per acre. It was seeded in the feed lots, on soil that would otherwise have remained idle or would have grown up to weeds.

The shoats on pasture enjoyed their diet and seemed satisfied. Those in dry lot seemed to be hankering after something green, and their appetites seemed unsatisfied without some kind of roughness. They would even nibble at straw, in a vain attempt to satisfy their craving.

“The experiment,” says Prof. D. H. Otis, “emphasizes the superior value of alfalfa pasture. Where alfalfa is not available, or where variety is wanted, or it is desired to utilize otherwise waste land, Dwarf Essex rape, seeded at the rate of six to eight pounds per acre, any time from early spring to late summer, will furnish an excellent diet that is greatly relished by the hogs.”

J. E. Woodford, of Coffey county, Kansas, April 1, 1905, placed ten choice pure bred Poland-China brood sows from twelve to eighteen months old that were due to farrow in the latter days of June, on a five-acre field of alfalfa. They were given no other feed than the alfalfa pasturage until they had farrowed and their pigs were a week old. After that the sows had in addition to the alfalfa some bran slop until about August 20, when new corn was fit for feeding. He says: “The sows from the time they were turned on the alfalfa until the last week in June made a remarkable growth, besides gaining somewhat in flesh. They did well with their pigs, reared an average of seven to each sow, and as sucklers they were a sight to see. The pigs were the most attractive bunch ever raised in Coffey county, as admitted by our breeding competitors. We weighed a gilt from this lot when six months and five days old, and her weight of two hundred and twenty-five pounds was not above the average of the whole lot. In our lifelong experience in rearing swine we have found nothing of the grass kind for them that in value approaches alfalfa.”

A plat of thrifty, well-established alfalfa suitably fenced and used for pasturing swine of whatever age can scarcely fall short of being among the most profitable parts of any farm upon which swine husbandry is given attention.

_CHAPTER XIV._

Alfalfa for Horses and Mules

J. W. Robison, a Kansas breeder of Percherons, who ranks among the foremost anywhere, raises his colts to three years at an average weight of 1700 pounds and his four-year-olds at 1900 pounds, ready for the sale yard, on alfalfa, except such limited quantities of grain as will make it more nearly a properly balanced food, and incidentally expedite growth. His opinion, fortified by sixty years of experience, is that alfalfa as pasturage and hay constitutes by far the most excellent and economical frame- and muscle-forming food available to the live stock industry. His colts have alfalfa as their first green food, and, if foaled in winter, are taught in a few days to nibble the cut hay. He also says colts reared mainly on alfalfa have equal spirit and vigor and better dispositions than those given much grain. His brood mares are made to rely on alfalfa as their main ration, and for three months before foaling it is practically, unless in midwinter, their only feed. As a result they are always in ideal condition, their colts are delivered easily, the mares give an abundance of nourishing milk, free from feverish tendencies, and the colts are robustly rugged from their beginning. The cost of rearing colts and horses by this method, he says, is less, quality and rapidity of their growth considered, than by any other of which he has knowledge.

The well-known J. E. Wing, of Ohio, says: “There is no one thing so good for the work horse as alfalfa. He needs less grain, and has more life and spirit than when fed upon any other hay, yet even working teams can, on account of its richness, be fed too much. This puts an undue strain upon their excretory organs to eliminate the unnecessary food substances from the tissues. The overfeeding of alfalfa hay to horses has in some localities caused the use of it to become unpopular, and to raise an outcry against it. The writer has fed no other hay to his horses--working teams, driving horses, mares and foals--for many years, and has yet to observe the first instance of evil result, save that the driving horses when not used regularly become soft and easily sweated.

GOOD FOR WORK HORSES

Until recently it was not thought in the eastern states that alfalfa was an especially good feed for horses. On the somewhat noted Watson ranch at Kearney, Nebraska, the grain supply became exhausted one summer when the prices were high. There was an abundance of alfalfa hay, and although it was in August and the horses were at heavy work, such as plowing and ditching, the entire force of eighty was kept on alfalfa hay and but little grain, without any injurious effect. They relished the hay, did the hard work every day and looked as sleek as if on pasture. Since that time alfalfa hay has been the principal ration for all of the farm’s work horses, colts and driving stock.

In western Kansas farm horses have been wintered on a daily feed of 10 pounds of alfalfa hay and some corn stover, and thin horses fattened on alfalfa hay and a little corn.

CRESCEUS EATS ALFALFA

Again, the prevalent notion that it is not good for driving horses has been contradicted by hundreds of farmers who use it for such horses, and by hundreds in western towns who use it for delivery horses, dray horses, and light drivers, as well. In parts of California it is the only hay fed to horses. “Cresceus, the great race horse, is said to have been raised on it and it is said that he is fed no other hay, even while on the racing circuit.” The same was said of Sysonby, the fleetest Thoroughbred in the races of 1905. Many of the city transfer companies in Denver, Kansas City and Omaha use alfalfa hay, claiming that it enables them to reduce their grain ration, while their horses seem stronger and look better than they did with the former feed of corn and timothy.

TOO MUCH HAY FED

It is no doubt true that Americans feed their horses too much hay. It is common among horse owners to let horses stand to full mangers when not at work. In London the cab horses, for example, are given hay for but two hours a day, in the evening. At the end of two hours the mangers are cleared. Careful testing in decreasing the timothy hay ration one-half has not shown that the horses required any more grain than before to keep them in equally good condition.

Horses do not need a heavy ration of alfalfa hay. Fed with grain, probably 10 or 15 pounds of it is equal to a manger full of other hay. As they become accustomed to the alfalfa it may be increased a little, and the grain decreased. It is a rich food and should not be used as freely as hays with less protein.

Prof. L. A. Merrill of the Utah station made six tests of alfalfa hay in comparison with timothy for horses under varying conditions of work, and found that it was less difficult to maintain their weight with alfalfa. The appearance of the horses in every comparison was in favor of the alfalfa-fed horse, and no ill results were noted on their health by long-continued alfalfa feeding. Fourteen-hundred pound horses at hard work could be maintained in condition on 32.6 pounds of alfalfa hay per day, and at rest 20 pounds was sufficient for the same horses.

The quantity of hay fed on most farms could be reduced at least one-half.

With all its merits alfalfa hay is by no means a properly balanced ration for all purposes, and those unacquainted with this fact are liable to feed it, exclusively or otherwise, in such quantities as are both extravagant and harmful. D. C. Smead, a veterinarian of note, in writing about using the hay in too great quantities, especially in feeding horses, says this:

“There is more danger in deranging the digestion or man or beast by an excess of protein than by overfeeding on a carbonaceous food. The proteins in food are more easily acted upon by the digestive fluids, and thus more easily digested and carried into the blood, where an excess means work for the kidneys to carry it off. We can founder a horse more easily on wheat than on corn for this very reason. Alfalfa has a nutritive ratio of practically 1 to 4. An ordinary 1000-pound horse, if given all it will eat of it, will eat from thirty to forty pounds in twenty-four hours. As the alfalfa contains about 11 per cent of easily digested proteins, you will readily see that the horse would be taking into his system nearly four and one-half pounds of protein.

“About two and one-half pounds of digestible protein is all that an ordinary horse or cow of a thousand pounds weight, when at work or in milk, can utilize. In the alfalfa hay we have nearly twice as much as is needed. If it were not for some of it being physicked off, we would soon have an animal with overworked kidneys or muscular stiffness of a rheumatic nature. In case of a mare in foal, when fed on alfalfa and nothing else, the chances are she would drop her colt prematurely, or if it went full time, the colt would be a nice, fat, little, plump fellow, with little vitality and with a tendency to rickets or bowel disease, all because the alfalfa was too narrow a ration.

“Now if we fed this mare alfalfa hay once a day or even twice a day, in moderate quantities, say fifteen pounds, and gave her one feed of straw or timothy hay or corn fodder, which are carbonaceous foods, with a quart of oats a day to impart a little nerve force, we would have her practically on right lines. Alfalfa, good as it is, is not an all-sufficient food for any animal. The danger lies in sections where it is being thrown to the animals relishing it so well and the owner having it in such abundance that it will come to be considered all-sufficient, and then trouble is liable to follow. But fed with judgment it is the best of all protein foods, and will enable the farmer to feed wisely and well many of the unmarketable rough foods he raises, like straw and corn stover, the one balancing the other.”

Here and there are horses with digestive apparatus not suited for the best use of alfalfa, but they are rare exceptions rather than the rule.

PRODUCES RAPID GROWTH

One of the foremost horse breeders in America, who constantly maintains upwards of one hundred head of various ages, writes the author this:

“In my experience of twenty-five years in pasturing horses on alfalfa, results have convinced me that it produces more bone, muscle and blood in horses in less time than any other pasturage with which I am acquainted. But I believe it profitable in raising the best horses to also use a moderate grain ration, to stimulate rapid growth and early development; my horses, however, have shown no ill effects from pasturing on alfalfa without grain, or other feed, and I have found such pasturing conducive to health and prolificacy, maturing animals equal for service to any reared otherwise. I have raised three-year-olds grown on alfalfa and a light grain ration to exceed a ton in weight, carrying all the good qualities of the breed to which they belonged. Further, I find using alfalfa as a horse pasture a much more economical method of raising horses than any other.”

Plants on the left inoculated with “nitro-culture,” those on the right not inoculated]

grown on Kansas upland. Height, May 28, 36 inches. The crown shows the effect of splitting with a disk harrow]

_CHAPTER XV._

Alfalfa and Sheep-Raising

The day is not far distant when the free “range” will be practically eliminated from the stockman’s assets. His stock must be reared on cultivated crops instead of by grazing on grasses that cost nothing. Pound for pound alfalfa is more fattening for young lambs or old sheep than clover. Lambs soiled on alfalfa cut daily make a phenomenal growth and are as a rule free from disease. They may be carried through the summer on a light feeding of green alfalfa and general pasture or farm grazing, and fattened in the fall on alfalfa hay and cowpeas or a little grain, at a generous profit.

Thousands of sheep and lambs are every year brought from Colorado and Montana to western Kansas and Nebraska and fattened for market on alfalfa hay and grain, making for these commodities a convenient market at good prices.

HOW TO PREVENT BLOATING

Pasturing sheep or lambs on alfalfa is dangerous, although there are sheep raisers who make it a main reliance. One man reports absolute freedom from loss for several years, and his method is to have his sheep pen adjoining the alfalfa field and early in April when the alfalfa is just beginning to put on its green, he arranges a “creep” for the lambs to go through into the field, and lets them stay there at pleasure. They soon wean themselves; the “creep” is then closed and a safe pen in the alfalfa field is used for shelter from rains and protection from dogs. When necessary to fasten them in at night to guard against dogs or wolves, he cuts green alfalfa each evening to give them with a little grain in the morning before turning them back to the field. The lambs grow rapidly and none ever bloat. Nevertheless, most sheep raisers will continue to reckon alfalfa pasture too expensive when it costs so many animals for the privilege of its use. Safety is the exception, and not the rule.

Owners of large flocks of sheep claim to be able to market lambs from alfalfa pasture, or when soiled, at one-half to one-third the cost of maintenance with any other crop. Green or cured it seems to hasten development and the lambs are in fine condition for fattening in October, or the ewes to put into the breeding pen.

The Nebraska station in a winter experiment of 98 days with one hundred 50-pound lambs, divided into different lots and variously fed with prairie hay, alfalfa hay, shelled corn, wheat bran, oats and linseed meal figured at the prices then current, reached these results:

1. The alfalfa-fed lambs consumed 1.34 pounds of alfalfa hay and one pound of grain per day as against .88 pound of prairie hay and .89 pound of grain consumed by the prairie hay fed lambs.

2. The alfalfa-fed lambs made fifty-two per cent greater gains than the lambs fed prairie hay and the same grain ration.

3. The lambs fed prairie hay with corn and 16 per cent of oil meal made 26 per cent larger gains than the lots fed prairie hay with a grain ration of shelled corn, or shelled corn with 25 per cent of bran or oats added.

In the twenty-fifth annual report of the Ontario agricultural college are some interesting reports on feeding lambs on various foods. The feeding periods were 74 days for the first experiment and 42 for the second.

By these tests alfalfa hay was shown to be slightly better for the lambs in every way than clover hay under practically equivalent conditions.

The first and second cuttings of alfalfa were equal in value; the third cutting was slightly better than the first.

W. L. Carlyle, dean of the Colorado agricultural college declares alfalfa hay is the basis of the feeding industry in northern Colorado. “Without alfalfa our agriculture would be of very little moment. Alfalfa forms the basis of all our sugar-beet growing. It not only enriches the soil in which it grows, but prepares it for the growing of sugar-beets in a way that no other crop or system or cultivation can, and while doing this preparatory work it yields an enormous tonnage of the most valuable feed for fattening sheep and cattle. Usually lambs are given free access to the hay and are allowed to eat all of it that they will.”

Lamb feeding in northern Colorado has been carried on quite extensively for a number of years, and with such success that “Fort Collins lambs” are recognized in the eastern markets as superior to anything that is shipped from any other section of the country. The name “Fort Collins sheep” has extended to all of northern Colorado, just as the “Greeley potato” is the term given to all potatoes grown in the northern part of the state.

In recent years many thousands of old ewes have been fed at the various sugar factories upon beet pulp, alfalfa hay and corn. The old ewes thrive much better upon the beet pulp than the lambs or younger sheep. It produces a very desirable sappiness of flesh, and when these sheep have been on this feed with alfalfa hay for two or three months and are then finished with corn, they bring the highest price on the market.

_CHAPTER XVI._

Alfalfa and Bees

THE BEE FERTILIZES THE ALFALFA

It has been discovered that the honey bee is of even more importance to the alfalfa than the alfalfa is to the bee. The wonderful strength and speed of the bees take them long distances for their food and they have recourse to a great variety of plants. But the peculiar construction of the alfalfa blossom renders it unable to fertilize itself and its shape makes cross fertilization very difficult. In the marvelous “balance of good” in nature, alfalfa, like thousands of other plants, is aided in its lease on life by the insect world. It is not known just how many insects or birds assist this remarkable plant, but the honey bee is the most conspicuous, the most industrious, the most eager, and certainly the most useful.

Careful observations have been made of seed pods grown near colonies of bees, and also of those so far from any bee colonies that it was safely assumed no bees had visited the fields producing the pods. In every case it was found that those from nearby fields had from 50 to 75 per cent more seeds than the others and that they were larger and more perfectly developed. In Colorado and western Kansas, where bee culture has been greatly developed in recent years, it is found that the alfalfa seed crop in fields nearest to bee colonies is much heavier and of better quality than that of fields but a few miles away.

At the Kansas experiment station a small plat of vigorous alfalfa was covered just before coming into bloom with mosquito netting supported on sticks. It was therefore known that no bees nor other insects could come into contact with the blossoms. Later a careful examination disclosed that the pods which had formed were entirely without seeds.

HOW THE FERTILIZING IS ACCOMPLISHED

As suggesting something of the relation of bees and like insects to the cross fertilization of alfalfa blossoms and consequent increased seed production, Prof. S. J. Hunter, entomologist of the University of Kansas, who has spent much time making critical observations of bees in the alfalfa fields of the Middle West, writes the following for this volume:

“Every farmer is familiar with the evil effects of continuous inbreeding among live stock. In plant life this same continuous fertilization of one plant by its own pollen works no less injury to its race of plants. To prevent such inbreeding among plants nature has devised several means. One of these is illustrated in the alfalfa blossom. If the reader will tear away the purple blossom exposing the true organs of fertilization, it will be seen that the central round body, the stigma, designed to receive the pollen grains, is higher than the surrounding, elongated, pollen-bearing anthers. It will become evident, then, that it will be possible and most likely for the pollen to drop to the base of the flower without coming in contact with the stigma, and the flower will thus go unfertilized. This is as nature intended it should be, namely, that the plant should go unfertilized if it could be fertilized only by the pollen of its own blossom. Provision, however, is made for cross fertilization, that is, fertilization from the pollen of another flower.

“The color of the flower itself, its fragrance, and finally the sip of nectar secreted at the base of the flower, are all intended to attract flower-frequenting insects. Chief among these is the honey bee. The fragrance of the flower draws the insect from afar. The color of the flower reveals its exact location to the insect and when the tongue of the bee is inserted into the flower, in quest of the coveted nectar, the stamens and pistil spring up, striking the under part of the hairy-covered head. These hairs are barbed and readily retain the pollen, so that the flower both discharges its own pollen and also takes from the head and breast of the bee pollen previously collected from other flowers. Obviously, the first flower which the insect visits is not cross-fertilized. Practical observations upon the relations existing between the honey bee and the alfalfa plant are of value in illustrating the effects of the bees upon alfalfa.

“A case in point: A hundred well matured pods were collected upon an alfalfa field less than one-half mile away from a large apiary. A similar number were taken from another field. The two fields were as nearly identical as possible in the matter of soil, culture, and conditions governing the vegetable growth of the alfalfa plant. The second field, however, was about twenty-five miles away from a colony of bees. No bees were observed in the field and since there was no timber, nor other place of shelter where bees might possibly live, it seemed reasonably safe to say that there were no wild bees in the vicinity. An examination of the seed pods from each of the two localities was made and the number of seeds counted. In the field near the apiary the average number of seeds in a pod was found to be 5.58. The seeds were plump and the pods were numerous upon a cluster. The pods themselves had several spirals. In the other field, the one remote from a known colony of bees, the average number of seeds in a pod was 3.35. The seeds in at least one-third of the pods were small and shriveled. The pods were few in the cluster, short, and with but few spirals. The seed crop of the first field could be estimated on this basis at two-thirds greater than that of the second field.

“It is a well-known fact that the seed yield per acre for Red clover is comparatively small. Red clover belongs to the same family of plants as alfalfa and it, too, is dependent upon insects for fertilization of its flowers. The work, however, is restricted largely to the bumble bee, since but few other insects have tongues long enough to reach down to the nectar of the clover blossom and consequently do not visit the clover blossom and bring about proper formation of seed. So in proportion as the bumble bees thrive, the clover flourishes. Alfalfa, however, is not so limited in its number of insect assistants, since the flower itself is shorter and the nectar accordingly accessible to a greater number of insects.”

THE HONEY PRODUCT

Alfalfa raisers find it to their advantage to have a few stands of bees. As the original cost is slight and the bees provide their own food, go after the raw material for the manufacture of honey, demand but slight attention and make such bountiful returns, bee culture has come to be a valuable “side line” for the farm. As blooms are to be found in alfalfa districts every day from early May to late October, the bees have a constant opportunity for service.

Alfalfa honey is white and clear, in an extremely delicate comb, has a delicious flavor, and an aroma that is delightful. One authentic report from a western Kansas county is of a single hive that contained nearly two hundred pounds, and of another having ninety-six pounds. The owner of these had twenty-five acres of alfalfa which in one year yielded him over one hundred tons of choice hay besides the honey. The next year he increased his apiary to fifty stands.

While the average yield per hive elsewhere varies from fifteen to thirty pounds, the average in the alfalfa-growing territory is far higher. Thus the financial returns of alfalfa may be greatly increased and in some instances doubled by having, say, two colonies of bees for each acre. Or if only a part of the alfalfa raisers in a neighborhood keep bees, this ratio could be doubled or trebled by those who do. Unlike other trespassers on neighbors’ fields the bees do the neighbors a distinct favor, by fertilizing their alfalfa.

_CHAPTER XVII._

Alfalfa and Poultry

BETTER THAN MEDICINE

At first it might seem that too much was claimed for alfalfa if written of as a specially valuable adjunct in poultry raising. The poultry industry of the United States is making wonderful advances, and the volume of its returns is enormous; the figures are well-nigh incredible. One of the handicaps is disease. Poultry men are a unit in saying that where alfalfa in any form can be supplied to poultry disease is almost unknown. Fowls like it green, and whether allowed the run of the field or it is given to them daily they eat it greedily and thrive. Many farmers say emphatically that the hens lay more and larger eggs when allowed alfalfa in any form. Its nitrogen contributes to the albumen of the eggs and to the growth of the young chickens.

MAY INFLUENCE EGG FERTILITY

Scientific tests of feeding alfalfa to poultry have not been made, but, no doubt, will be in the near future. If it is found that the eggs are larger when the hens are given alfalfa, it may also be found that the percentage of fertility is greater. For years the complaint has been made by farmers and poultrymen that there are too many infertile eggs. The financial losses are great if a fourth or third of the eggs used for incubation prove infertile. It would seem that the same elements that contribute to the growth of the hatched chicken should also add to the vitality of the embryo, increasing the percentage of fertility and adding to the vigor of the newly hatched chick.

AIDS IN PREPARING FOR MARKET

The growth of young chickens is greatly aided by alfalfa. One man reports an experiment with five hundred capons, hatched early in March, that averaged in December nearly eight pounds and sold in the city market at nineteen cents per pound. They were given the run of a patch of alfalfa for a time and ate little other feed. Later they were put in the yards and fed with alfalfa cut into short lengths, with a little grain; still later alfalfa meal was added, with a little wheat. Then, finally, alfalfa hay was cut and steamed and added to the ration. The cost of maintenance and fattening must have been small compared with the large returns.

This item is from the Harper, Kansas, _Sentinel_: A subscriber tells us that the mites and chicken lice were completely driven out of his barn and hen house, as soon as he had alfalfa hay put in his barn and used it in the house for nests. He says that before the hay was cut, it was impossible to keep a horse in the barn or to have a hen hatch a nest of eggs, but neither mites nor lice can be found now. This is a new use for alfalfa, but if it does the work, it will be lots cheaper than buying poisonous decoctions and spraying pumps to get rid of lice and mites, the greatest pests to poultry raisers.

_CHAPTER XVIII._

Alfalfa Food Preparation

The growing appreciation of alfalfa as a stock and dairy food and the expense of baling and shipping it as hay, the loss of leaves, and the liability to heat and mold unless well cured, have led to the manufacture from it of several food preparations. These in some cases are made by simply grinding into a meal, and in others by mixing the meal with molasses, or a variety of food products, and assumed condiments and appetizers.

The Colorado station in a feeding test concluded that the ground alfalfa was not an economical feed for fattening pigs. With cut alfalfa hay costing $8 a ton and ground alfalfa $16 a ton the cost of producing one hundred pounds of gain with the former was $2.62 and with the alfalfa meal $3.12. With corn and cut alfalfa hay fed in equal parts by weight the cost of producing one hundred pounds of gain was $2.72. With corn and alfalfa meal fed in equal parts by weight the cost was $3.96. It is not improbable, however, that better results would have been obtained if a less proportion of ground or cut alfalfa had been fed. It is also probable that the hog’s grinding machinery is better adapted to his digestive apparatus than is any other.

PROFESSOR COTTRELL ON ALFALFA MEAL

It is worth while, however, to consider the arguments in favor of grinding alfalfa. Prof. H. M. Cottrell says:

“Grinding alfalfa increases its digestibility. How much has not been determined. Grinding increases the digestibility of corn and oats as much as 14 per cent, and of wheat 10 per cent. It is probable that there is a greater gain in digestibility from grinding alfalfa, a coarse feed, than there is from grinding grain.

“When alfalfa is to be fed at a distance from the place where grown it must be baled for shipping. When the bales are opened and scattered in feeding a considerable part of the leaves is wasted. Over 8 per cent of the protein in alfalfa is found in the leaves, and the loss of protein from leaves wasted in feeding baled hay is frequently from one-fourth to one-half of the total amount in the original hay. With ground alfalfa there is no waste in feeding either from leaf or stem. Alfalfa ground is in the best condition for shipping and handling cheaply and without waste.

“Ground alfalfa is not only a good feed itself but when mixed with grain aids in the digestion of the other feeds, enabling the feeder to get more out of his home grown grain.

“Experiments have not been made to determine the exact value of this diluting effect of alfalfa meal in increasing the feed value of heavy grains. Tests have shown that corn-and-cob meal has the same feeding value as an equal weight of clear corn meal. Practically worthless ground cobs by their ‘lightening up’ the heavy corn meal add 20 per cent to the feeding value of the meal with which they are mixed. It is reasonable to believe that a rich feed like ground alfalfa has even a greater influence when mixed with corn meal. The more intimate the mixture the greater the benefits from alfalfa, and for this reason ground alfalfa is far superior to the whole hay.

“Grinding alfalfa hay reduces the power needed to digest and assimilate it. It takes power for an animal to chew the feed, digest it and bring about the chemical changes that convert it into flesh or milk. All this energy is taken from the actual food material in the alfalfa. Experiments show that a much larger amount of food value is used up in this way with coarse feeds than with concentrated fine feeds. In corn, a concentrated feed easily worked up in the animal’s body, three-fourths of the protein actually in the hay is digested; and in straw, a still coarser feed, only one-tenth. Forty-eight per cent of all the energy in coarse hay is used up in chewing and digesting it, while only twenty per cent of the energy in oats is used in these processes. This shows the value of preparing feed in such a way as to require the least effort on the part of the animal to use it.

“In a well constructed mill it requires one horse-power ten hours to grind alfalfa sufficient for a month’s ration for a dairy cow in full milk. This indicates what a saving the grinding of alfalfa makes in its effective use by an animal.

“Experiments show that good alfalfa hay and wheat bran have practically the same value in feeding for milk. In a test made of bran and alfalfa meal, two lots of cows were selected that were giving equal weights of milk. One lot was fed bran, the other lot the same weight of alfalfa meal. For each 100 pounds of milk given by the cows fed bran, 141 pounds were yielded by the cows fed alfalfa meal.”

As an example, “Alfamo” is the name of one of the numerous new feeds on the market, having alfalfa meal as its principal ingredient. After a year of experimenting with grinding and mixing various feeds it was determined by the manufacturers that a feed made of three parts alfalfa meal and one part beet-sugar molasses would possess a very high value. The ingredients are mixed by a special apparatus and subjected to a process which retains and preserves the high nutriment of the feed.

Prof. Samuel Avery of the Nebraska station made an analysis of “Alfamo,” which showed the following composition:

Per cent
Moisture 2.74
Protein 15.04
Carbohydrates 50.48
Ash 13.87
Crude fiber 17.85

Professor Avery also states: “This feed was made by mixing molasses with alfalfa meal which contained 16.15 per cent protein. It will be noticed that the protein content is not greatly reduced, while a large quantity of nutritious matter has been added in the molasses. An analysis of the molasses used in this product, showed practically fifty per cent sugar, and it should be remembered that the sugar in molasses is all digestible and ready for the animal without extra effort on the animal’s part, which is not so in corn or other foods, strong in carbohydrates from which the starch must be extracted by the digestive apparatus.”

SOLVING THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

Several mills for the manufacture of alfalfa foods have been and are being established, and it is reasonable to assume that the use of these foods will become quite general in cities and districts remote from the alfalfa regions. Whether or not the actual feeding value is appreciably increased, or the nutritive constituents made more thoroughly available, is as yet not determined by sufficient tests, nor has it been determined by any station test that any factory food preparation is more economical than alfalfa hay, where the hay can be obtained well cured and with a reasonable proportion of its leaves. It is altogether probable, however, that alfalfa meal will be more economical in distant cities than baled hay. If these preparations of alfalfa prove to be satisfactory to consumers in distant markets, it will lead to the multiplication of mills in the alfalfa regions, thereby decreasing the cost of transportation and giving the grower a wider and probably a better market. The use of the meal or the food preparations is likely to prove most especially valuable for dairy cows and poultry.

_CHAPTER XIX._

Alfalfa for Town and City

While the preceding chapters have dealt with almost every phase of alfalfa, it is thought well to emphasize the advantages of its more general use in cities and towns. In the minds of many there is an undefined impression that alfalfa is for farm consumption only. Often when first introduced into a community, farmers who raise more than they have stock to consume, complain that it is difficult to sell in small towns.

THE TOWN COW NEEDS ALFALFA

Milk producers who know it best concede that alfalfa is an invaluable feed in the dairy, closely akin to wheat bran in results and usually much less expensive. In the average small town or city there is about one cow for every ten or fifteen people. Therefore, in a town of one thousand population, there will probably be seventy-five to one hundred cows. If alfalfa will increase the quantity of their milk and butterfat, giving a product at a lower cost than the concentrated foods, it should be more used. But as yet it is not generally used, because it is not understood and appreciated.

The best time to secure a supply is when it is being harvested and can be taken directly from the field. If the mow is large enough for three or more tons, a ton can be stored from each of the different cuttings, and be cured in superior condition almost regardless of the weather. It would be found a most economical feed for the family cow and, if fowls are kept, it could constitute one-third of their ration, adding to growth and to the egg supply.

A CHEAP FEED FOR HORSES