The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1908-12-04
Alfalfa Adds
Value to Farm

| ~eSSs
profitable ways the crop can be
used. AS forage it is fed to all
kinds of farm animals and as a
crop for soil improvement it may
be made to fit into the plans of
every farmer.
| On the western prairies several
acres of wild grass were required
to sustain an animal, but, today,
in many sections where alfalfa
culture has come to stay, a single
acre will keep more than one beast.
In the remarkable rise of farm
values throughout the west during
the last five or ten years, alfalfa
has played no unimportant part
and it is by careful study Of
the uses Of the crop and
it's widest application, that more
general and even greater result
may be obtained. On every farm
on which stock is kept alfalfa can
be grown for hay, silage, soiling
and pasture, and sometimes even
for grinding into meal.
The crop, of course, is grown
more for hay than for any other
purpose. 1t is an excellent feed
for horses, cattle and sheep and it
| is also fed to some extent to hogs.
Alfalfa hay is rich in portein or
that nutritive element which
makes muscle and blood and milk.
Alfalfa contains from two to three
times as much protein as the corn
plant and it is also richer in car
bohydrates, or the fat forming
: substances such as starch and
sugar, although corn is our great
crop for fattening stock. The
leaves of the plant are highly
nutritious and heIce all care should
be exercised to retain them in the
curing and the handling of the
hay. The dry leaves and stems
contain about Is %a of protein while
the leaves and stems of clover.
which are always classed as very
nutritious fodder, contain only
about 1870. The high feeding
value of alfalfa hay enables the
farmer to use it in place of wheat,
bran and other high priced feeds
which are fed to supply protein.
Many of our steers are fattened
on alfalfa hay and corn. and the
the beef cattle of Argentine, in
South America, are finished
off for export in the same way.
It will not do, however, to fatten
with alfalfa alone because it does
not produce the quality of beef
which the market demands. A
steer fed on corn and alfalfa,
which is for all practical purposes
q we'll balanced ration, will be
preferred on the market to steer
fed, on grass or alfalfa alone.
Corn fed animals always have the
preference because the beef is
more solid and the carcess cuts up
more economically.
Alfalfa hay which has not been
damaged by rain is not only more
palatable to stock but it has also
much higher feeding Of value.
Exposure to rain often reduces the
nutritive value from 30 to 5O%.
Alfalfa hay is often baled for
transport and if put up without
the loss Of part Of the leaves it is
as good as unbaled hay. Baling
pays only when it is to be shipped.
In a deep NOW it will settle to
about ] the bulk of baled hay but
in shallow NOW, and especially
if put up quite dry, it will occupy
from four to FIVE times the space
Of baled hay.
For soil improvements alfalfa
ranks very high. Land on which
the crop was grown with good
results always shows improvement
il the following crop. The in
crease in fertility is brought about
ia several ways. It's large and
deep p-going root system opens up
the lower soils and acts in such s.
manner upon the mineral sub