COMPARATIVE CROP AND FEEDING VALUES
The following is another table showing the average yield of alfalfa as compared with some of the more common fodder crops and hays, as found in New Jersey station Bulletin No. 148.
| Total Yield Green Forage per acre | Dry Matter per acre | Total Protein per acre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pounds | Pounds | Pounds | |
| Alfalfa | 36,540 | 8,258 | 2,214 |
| Corn (entire plant) | 24,000 | 5,040 | 408 |
| Red clover | 14,000 | 4,088 | 616 |
| Barnyard millet | 16,000 | 4,000 | 384 |
| Crimson clover | 14,000 | 2,674 | 434 |
| Cowpeas | 16,000 | 2,624 | 384 |
| Oats and peas | 14,000 | 2,107 | 363 |
| Dry Matter | Total Protein | ||
| Pounds | Pounds | ||
| 1 ton alfalfa hay contains | 1,809 | 265 | |
| 1 ton red clover hay contains | 1,694 | 246 | |
| 1 ton oats and peas contains | 1,375 | 175 | |
| 1 ton timothy contains | 1,736 | 118 | |
| 1 ton wheat bran contains | 1,762 | 308 | |
| 1 ton wheat middlings contains | 1,758 | 312 | |
| 1 ton rye bran contains | 1,768 | 294 | |
| 1 ton oats contains | 1,780 | 236 | |
| 1 ton rice meal contains | 1,796 | 240 | |
| 1 ton buckwheat bran contains | 1,790 | 248 | |
At the Colorado station (Bul. No. 26) Prof. W. W. Cooke compared an acre of dent (Golden Beauty) corn, planted May 16 and harvested September 21, with returns from an acre of alfalfa on an adjoining plat, three years seeded. The corn crop was a fair one, and including ears and stalks weighed 15,500 pounds, containing 35.62 per cent or 5539 pounds of dry matter. The alfalfa yielded three cuttings of hay weighing respectively 4600, 3350 and 3250 pounds, or 5.6 tons, containing 10,304 pounds of dry matter. But, as Professor Cooke says, this is not quite a fair comparison, for a pound of dry matter from the corn crop is more digestible and has a higher feeding value than an equal amount from the alfalfa. The corn crop contained 3605 pounds of digestible feeding material, while the alfalfa crop contained 5611 pounds, or a little more than half as much again. The corn crop per acre in feeding value was equivalent to three and a half tons of alfalfa hay.
The total digestible nutrients of the two crops are presented in the following table:
| TOTAL | DIGESTIBLE | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corn | Alfalfa | Corn | Alfalfa | |
| Pounds | Pounds | Pounds | Pounds | |
| Dry matter | 5,539 | 10,304 | 3,605 | 5,611 |
| Albuminoids | 405 | 1,602 | 296 | 1,198 |
| Starch, sugar, etc. | 3,263 | 4,782 | 2,186 | 3,114 |
| Fiber | 1,472 | 2,800 | 1,060 | 1,198 |
| Fat (ether extract) | 84 | 246 | 63 | 101 |
| Ash | 315 | 829 | .... | .... |