240 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



perfect ration. Barley or corn fed with alfalfa make 

 perfect lambs. For a maintenance ration the alfalfa alone 

 will serve well, though even here bright straw, corn- 

 stalks or wild hay may be fed in connection with good 

 results. 



Alfalfa for Swine. Hogs will eat a good deal of 

 alfalfa hay during winter to their great good and health. 

 If meant for hogs alfalfa hay should be early cut and 

 nicely cured. It may be chopped fine and cornmeal mixed 

 with it ; it may be fed as one would feed it to cattle, or it 

 may be ground into meal. The relative profit of either 

 practice depends on the cost of alfalfa hay. Ordinarily 

 it is cheaper to waste a portion of the hay (which works 

 into the manure) than to go to the expense of grinding. 

 For brood sows in winter alfalfa hay is almost indispen- 

 sable. Always, 'when feeding swine on alfalfa, a partial 

 ration of grain should be fed. 



Use of Alfalfa Pasture. Alfalfa sown for pasture 

 should always be mixed with grasses, unless it is to be 

 merely grazed by horses and swine. The grasses usable 

 for this purpose are timothy, orchard grass and brome 

 grass. Brome grass seems best for the purpose, but in 

 time it will encroach on alfalfa and may weaken it. It 

 yields the most and best pasturage, however. There is 

 little danger of animals bloating on alfalfa pasture well 

 mixed with grasses. Bloating is the one thing most to be 

 feared in cows and sheep; horses and pigs seldom give 

 any trouble of this kind. There are certain rules that, 

 when observed, will commonly prevent bloating. Ani- 

 mals should not be turned on alfalfa until it has reached 

 a good height and come nearly to bloom ; it should be at 



