SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 793 



BALING. 



As is customary with all kinds of hay requiring transportation, 

 alfalfa is pressed into bales when prepared for the market. The con- 

 venience in handling is such that alfalfa is frequently baled for local 

 consumption. The hay for baling must be well cured or there is dan- 

 ger of loss from heating and subsequent spoiling. 



PASTURING ALFALFA. 



In all the alfalfa districts the fields are used more or less extensively 

 for pasturing various kinds of stock. In the arid regions it is quite a 

 common practice to pasture the fields after the last cutting during a 

 portion of the fall and winter. Alfalfa is undoubtedly a valuable 

 pasture plant, but must be used with some caution to prevent loss from 

 bloating, in the case of cattle or sheep, and to prevent injury to the 

 alfalfa field from trampling or overgrazing. Cattle and sheep will 

 bloat as readily upon green alfalfa as upon clover. 



Alfalfa is prominently adapted to the production of hay, and ex- 

 cept in the case of hogs its use as pasture is secondary. Where it is 

 intended to use alfalfa primarily as a pasture plant for cattle, sheep, 

 or horses, better results may be obtained by combining the alfalfa with 

 some grass, such as brome grass in the Northwestern States. The mix- 

 ture is a more nearly balanced ration, gives a greater variety of feed, 

 and is less likely to cause bloat. 



DANGER OF BLOATING. 



The cause of bloat is not known nor are the conditions bringing it 

 about entirely understood. The danger of loss from this cause is 

 always present whenever alfalfa is pastured with cattle or sheep. The 

 loss from bloat in regions where alfalfa is regularly pastured is ordi- 

 narily small, although in some cases it is said to amount to as much as 

 5 per cent per annum. This loss is more than offiset by the increased 

 gain from pasturing, even for the limited time in the fall when the 

 pasturing usually occurrs, unless, of course, the animals are especially 

 valuable. The conditions which usually cause bloat in cattle or sheep 

 when fed upon clover it is sometimes claimed, do not seem to be 

 identical with those causing bloat when alfalfa is pastured. In some 

 regions it is claimed by stockmen that bloat is more likely to occur 

 when cattle are turned upon wet alfalfa, or when they are turned into a 

 pasture when hungry. In other regions stockmen insist that these con- 

 ditions have little or nothing to do with the prevalence of bloat. While 

 there is always danger from bloat in pastauring alfalfa, it may be cut 

 and fed green as a soiling plant with comparative little danger. But 

 there are even cases on record where cattle, on the 'return of appetite 

 after being off fed. have bloated up on alfalfa hay. 



