114 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



day they were on the pasture, and then no more, and 

 that the losses of old sheep were of less importance than 

 the growth of the lambs, these being seldom affected by 

 bloat. Most, however, advised that the old should not be 

 turned on alfalfa under any circumstances, but that 

 lambs, if well fed in the morning, let on the alfalfa after 

 the dew was off and then kept there night and day 

 would do well, and the loss be smaller than that in a nor- 

 mal season from other causes. J. E. Wing states that his 

 loss from pasturing lambs on alfalfa in Ohio is less than 

 it formerly was from one or two parasitic diseases that 

 never trouble alfalfa-pastured lambs. He gives his lambs 

 a full feed in the morning, turns them on the alfalfa field 

 about ten o'clock, and leaves them there continuously 

 until September. He begins the pasturing just before 

 the seasons first growth of the alfalfa blooms. 



While by no means without risk, pasturing sheep on 

 alfalfa is not always necessarily fatal and the following, 

 related in the Breeder's Gazette by Mr. C. H. Williams 

 of Powell county, Montana, is interesting: 



''We have been pasturing sheep in large numbers on 

 alfalfa for the past eight years. We have lost from bloat 

 as many as 26 in one day from a flock of 1600, but we 

 seldom lose one now. We find they are much more apt to 

 bloat on windy days; more especially if the wind blows 

 from the south and is soft and balmy. This may seem 

 strange, but we believe it a fact. We have in our employ 

 a shepherd who has during the greater part of his life 

 herded sheep on alfalfa in the vicinity of Pau and 

 d'Oloron, France. The day we lost 26 ewes from bloat 

 this man was several miles from the home ranch. When 



