FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH SWEET CLOVER._Sweet Clover: Utilization

Few agricultural experiment stations have carried on definite feeding

experiments to determine the value of sweet clover compared with other

feeds.

The South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station reported an experiment

in which lambs were fed on sweet-clover hay in comparison with alfalfa,

pea-vine, and prairie hay. In this experiment the lambs made a better

gain at a less cost when fed sweet-clover hay than when fed pea-vine

hay, but not as large a gain as when fed alfalfa hay. The results of

this experiment are shown in Table V.

Table V.--Feeding experiment with lambs in South Dakota, showing the

comparative value of different kinds of hay as roughage.

[Grain ration consists of oats and corn in all cases; roughage varies.]

--------------+-------+--------+----------------+---------------+-------

| | +--------+-------+-------+-------+ daily

--------------+-------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------

| | | | | | |

Prairie hay | 16 | 67 | 83.6 | 107.9 | 5.09 | 2.35 | 0.36

Pea-vine hay | 10 | 67 | 83.6 | 107.3 | 5.40 | 3.15 | .35

Alfalfa hay | 5 | 67 | 81.4 | 119.4 | 3.36 | 3.02 | .56

Sweet-clover | 10 | 67 | 84.7 | 113.6 | 4.42 | 3.19 | .43

hay | | | | | | |

--------------+-------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------

The Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station also performed an,

interesting experiment with lambs. A number of pens of 10 to 40

lambs each were fed different mixtures of feeds for 14 weeks. Those

receiving sweet-clover hay, corn, and a small amount of oil meal

made an average gain of 30.7 pounds per head, as compared with 20.3

pounds for those receiving native-grass hay, oats, and oil meal. Those

receiving alfalfa hay and corn made a gain of more than 34 pounds per

head. The results obtained with four pens of lambs in this experiment

are given in Table VI.

Table VI.--Results of feeding tests of lambs in Wyoming covering 14

weeks.

-------------+------+-------+-----------------------------------------------

| | | Required for 100 pounds of gain.

| | +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------

Ration. | of | per | hay. | hay. | hay. | | | meal.

-------------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------

(old process)| 10 | 30.7 | 637.5 | ..... | ..... | 293.2 | ..... | 20.5

| | | | | | | |

(old process)| 40 | 20.3 | ..... | 606.7 | ..... | ..... | 460.5 | 25.0

| | | | | | | |

and corn | 10 | 34.4 | ..... | ..... | 557.5 | 261.6 | ..... | .....

| | | | | | | |

Do | 40 | 34.3 | ..... | ..... | 557.3 | 286.5 | ..... | .....

| | | | | | | |

-------------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------

The sweet-clover hay used in this experiment was described as stemmy

and more than a year old; yet it was eaten up clean by the lambs.

The South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station conducted an

experiment in which steers were fed corn silage and various kinds of

hay, including sweet clover. The steers which were fed corn silage and

sweet-clover hay made an average daily gain of 2.45 pounds, at a cost

of $4.34 per hundred pounds of gain, whereas the steers which were

fed corn silage and red-clover hay made an average daily gain of 2.29

pounds, at a cost of $4.55 per hundred. The steers that were fed corn

silage and alfalfa hay made an average daily gain of 2.49 pounds, at

a cost of $4.30 per hundred. In computing the cost of the gains, corn

silage was valued at $3 per ton, alfalfa, red-clover, and sweet-clover

hay at $10 per ton, and prairie hay at $6 per ton. The results of

this experiment, as given in Table VII, show that sweet-clover hay is

practically equal to red-clover and alfalfa and greatly superior to

prairie hay for roughage for steers.

Table VII.--Feeding experiments with steers in South Dakota, showing

the value of sweet-clover hay as compared with some other kinds of hay.

[Corn silage fed in all cases; kind of hay varies.]

------------+-------+--------+----------------+-------+---------------+------

| | +--------+-------+ | of gain. | per

------------+-------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------

hay | 4 | 91 | 775 | 983 | 2.29 | 25 | 1.5 | $4.55

| | | | | | | |

clover hay| 4 | 91 | 774 | 997 | 2.45 | 23 | 1.5 | 4.34

| | | | | | | |

Alfalfa | 4 | 91 | 775 | 1,005 | 2.49 | 23 | 1.6 | 4.30

| | | | | | | |

Prairie | 4 | 91 | 769 | 951 | 2.01 | 29 | 1.5 | 4.79

hay | | | | | | | |

------------+-------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------

The results of these various experiments are being duplicated every

year by many feeders. Each year in the Middle West and Northwest many

cattle that bring high prices are being fed with no other roughage than

sweet-clover hay. Steers which have been pastured entirely on sweet

clover have brought in the Chicago market $1 per hundredweight more

than ordinary grass-pastured stock marketed from the same locality and

at the same time.

Excellent results were obtained in Lee County, Ill., from feeding

steers sweet-clover silage made from plants which had matured a

seed crop. For this experiment 91 head of steers 2 and 3 years old,

averaging 1,008 pounds per head, were purchased at the Kansas City

stock yards on November 16, 1915, at a cost of $6.30 per hundred.

These steers were shipped to a farm at Steward and immediately turned

on 120 acres of cornstalks. They were fed nothing in addition to the

cornstalks until January 14, 1916, when they were put into the feed

lot. While they were not weighed when turned into the feed lot, the

owner of the steers stated that in his estimation they had gained

but little, if any. During the 60 days these steers were in the feed

lot they were fed 25 bushels of snapped corn twice a day and as much

sweet-clover silage as they would eat. These animals had access to

sweet-clover straw during the first part of the feeding period, but

after this was consumed they had only oat straw as roughage. At the

end of the feeding period they were sold on the Chicago market at the

average price of $8.25 per hundred, netting approximately $30 per head.

The average weight of these steers in the Chicago yards was 1,177

pounds, 169 pounds more than when purchased in Kansas City.

A most remarkable feature of this experiment is the fact that the

steers were fed almost entirely material which would have been

considered of little value by the average farmer. The corn which was

fed tested 44 per cent moisture at the Rochelle, Ill., elevator, and 20

cents per bushel was the best price offered for it.

Presumably on account of wet weather during the fall of 1915, the

sweet-clover seed crop was a failure in that section; in fact, the crop

had been cut for seed and part had been thrashed before it was decided

that the seed yield was not sufficient to pay for the thrashing. The

remainder of the crop was then run into the silo and fed to the steers.

The leaves fall and the stems of this plant become hard and woody as

the seed matures. The crop therefore would have been worthless for

feed had it not been placed in the silo. As a rule, stock readily eat

sweet-clover straw when the stems are broken and crushed by the hulling

machines. The sweet-clover straw which was used as roughage during the

first part of the feeding period was from that part of the seed crop

which had been thrashed.

An interesting feeding experiment was conducted on a farm at Rochelle,

Ill. On September 7, 1913, 29 head of 2-year-old steers, averaging

836 pounds, were turned on 40 acres of sweet clover which had been

seeded that spring with barley. These animals were pastured on the

sweet clover until November 1 without additional feed. During this time

they made exceptionally large gains. From November 1 to December 11,

28 head of these steers had access to an 80-acre field of cornstalks.

On December 11 they were put into the feed lot. During the time these

steers were on the cornstalks they barely held their gain, but during

the first 30 days they were in the feed lot they made an average daily

gain of almost 3 pounds. In this period they received 215 bushels of

corn-and-cob meal and 16-3/4 tons of silage made from the first-year

growth of sweet clover. During the next 30 days they received 388

bushels of corn-and-cob meal and much less sweet-clover, silage.

During this time they made an average daily gain of 2 pounds. When the

corn-and-cob meal ration was increased the steers ate less silage.

These cattle dressed 55-1/8 per cent at a Chicago packing house.