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Show LIVBSTOGK I SHEEP ON ALFALFA. The use of alfalfa cannot be too strongly urged with sheep, cither the breeding or fattening stock. As the method of farming has become more intensified and the open range grows less each year, an acre of alfalfa must be made to take the place of many acres of range pasture. Sheep, being ruminants, arc able to handle a much more bulky feed than horses. A breeding flock of sheep can be carried through the winter season very successfully with but little lit-tle grain in addition to alfalfa hay. The College flock, consisting of Hampshircs, Shropshircs, Dorcst, Rambouillets and Cotswolds, have been wintered almost exclusively on alfalfa for the past three winters, and each spring have brought forth a good, large crop of strong, vigorous lambs. Ordinarily, the first cuting of alfalfa is not as good for sheep as the second and third cuttings, as it is usually coarse and stemmy and sheep do not cat these stems readily. It is about as safe to pasture old sheep on alfalfa as it is cattle. They thrive on it and make excellent gains, but sheep bloat easily and there is likely to be some loss from this source. Lambs can be pastured on alfalfa with but little danger of bloa.t, and the way they grow on alfalfa is a delight to the shepherd. They should never be put on the pasture when they arc empty and hungry, and it is always well to allow them access to some dry feed and keep them off the alfalfa until the dew is off; also on damp days. A mixture of alfalfa and bromc-gross or alfalfa and orchard-grass is a safer pasture than alfalfa alone. A flock of ewes and lambs can lie grazed for a short time each day on alfalfa with but little lit-tle danger of loss. If a lamb-creep can be arranged from the sheep corral cor-ral to an alfalfa pasture the lambs will soon learn what it is intended for and will do far better on it than if confined con-fined to a dry yard. Newly-seeded alfalfa can be pastured pas-tured with less danger of bloat than an old field, and the packing of the ground by the sheep passing over it is frequently a great benefit to the alfalfa. (If properly disced after- wards Ed. Descrct Farmer.) As a roughage for fattening sheep, alfalfa hay has no equal, and cases of bloat from the hay arc exceptionally ex-ceptionally rare. Many prefer this method of feeding, claiming that there is less waste by it. In feeding experiments at this Station Sta-tion with sheep wc have never found any other roughage or any combination combina-tion of roughage that would equal alfalfa al-falfa for fattening sheep. In a feeding feed-ing experiment at this Station, alfalfa and prairie hay were compared as roughages for fattening Western lambs. In the test the grain ration was corn and cottonseed meal for both lots. Those receiving alfalfa hay made an average daily gain of 0.335 pounds per head, while the lot on prairie hay made only 0.188 pounds per head daily, the alfalfa lot making almost twice as great gains. The alfalfa al-falfa seemed to give the lambs a better bet-ter appetite and they were always ready for their grain, and as soon as their grain was cicancd up they were ready for the alfalfa. Kansas Agricultural Agri-cultural College Bulletin No. 155. |