SOME MILKING TEST VALUATIONS

The New Jersey station as a result of a very painstaking milking test reported: (1) In a ration where alfalfa hay was tested against wheat bran and dried brewers’ grain the saving in the cost of milk was 12.7 cents per hundred, and 2.3 cents per pound of butter when alfalfa hay was used. This saving means a great deal when it is considered that the alfalfa is raised and not purchased. (2) That the milk value of one acre of alfalfa was $74.

A Kansas dairyman is reported to have kept ten cows through one summer on the alfalfa cut daily from a patch containing four square rods less than two acres.

Some dairymen believe that there is a great saving in the alfalfa hay by cutting it into two-inch lengths, and feeding it dry. It is also believed that it will always be a matter of economy to feed with the alfalfa, green or as hay, a small ration of carbonaceous food, even corn-stover serving such a purpose.

Former Governor Hoard, editor of Hoard’s Dairyman, says that with alfalfa hay at $10 and bran at $20 per ton there is a saving, by using alfalfa, of $2.80 for every 100 pounds of butter made, and a saving of 19.8 cents for every 100 pounds of milk.

In a section of New York where alfalfa has been quite generally introduced, dairymen claim an increase in their profits of 15 to 30 per cent by its use, besides the enrichment of their farms for other crops.

Prof. D. H. Otis, telling of experiments with the dairy herd at the Kansas agricultural college, states that, “it is usually recommended to feed a cow all the rough feed she will eat, and then balance up the ration with grain. The experience at the college indicates that much rough feed is wasted in careless feeding. The cow will eat the best first, and, if given too much, will pick the most desirable morsels, leaving what might be called passably good, which too frequently is treated as waste and thrown under foot. No more hay should be given an animal than it will eat up clean. This refers to first-class quality, however, as a cow could not be expected to eat poor hay clean.

“In feeding the rough feeds, the following table has been used by the college as a guide:

Roughness.—Value per ton when alfalfais worth $1.00 per ton
Feed	Total nutrients		Protein nutrients		Feed	Total nutrients		Protein nutrients
Dry Roughness					Green roughness
Alfalfa	$1	.00	$1	.00	Alfalfa	$0	.34	$0	.37
Corn-fodder		.32		.19	Corn silage		.13		.12
Cowpeas		.97	1	.02	Fodder corn		.14		.09
Fodder Corn		.40		.24	Pasture grasses		.03		.24
Millet		.64		.42	Sorghum fodder		.12		.06
Oat hay		.59		.41	Soy-beans		.28		.30
Oat straw		.33		.15	Roots and Tubers
Orchard-grass		.60		.45	Roots and Tubers
Prairie hay		.51		.33	Mangels		.10		.09
Red clover		.70		.64	Sugar-beets		.14		.10
Sorghum		.43		.23	Turnips		.11		.08
Soy-beans		.98	1	.02
Mixed hay		.67		.56
Timothy		.47		.27
Wheat straw		.25		.08

“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 find that in feeding a liberal allowance of roughness the grain can be reduced. Hence, the importance of providing roughness rich in protein, like alfalfa.”