90 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



for the dairy, are deficient in protein, so that alfalfa has 

 for the dairy farmer a very great value, coming as it 

 does to balance up these other more fattening and heat- 

 making provenders. This is not mere theory, but a fact 

 most abundantly proven by experience in the west, in 

 the middle states and later in the heart of the best 

 dairying section, through New York, Pennsylvania, and 

 New England, where some of the farmers are produc- 

 ing their own alfalfa, and others are securing it from 

 their more fortunate brothers of the west. The writer 

 has himself sent alfalfa hay to a gentleman milking one 

 of the best herds of Guernseys in America, animals fed 

 as well as science and skill could devise, and had word 

 afterward that the addition of alfalfa hay to their ration 

 made an increase in milk yield of twenty per cent! 



With good alfalfa hay and good sweet corn silage, 

 made from corn that has been allowed to mature well 

 before being harvested, the cheapest and best milk yields 



Harvesting Alfalfa. 



are secured. With this ration there is indeed very little 

 need of any other grain. That great dairy authority, 

 ex-Governor Hoard, has found in practice that with this 

 combination, and as little as four or five pounds daily 

 of grain, not only has he had the maximum return? in 

 milk and cream, but he has seen the dairy herd main- 

 tained in remarkable health and vigor. It is time the 

 farmer should break away from the bonds that bind him 

 to the miller and the dealer in food supplies, and learn 

 to produce on his own farm nearly all that his animals 

 need, including that most precious and costly thins of 

 all, the protein content of his animals' ration. 



With lambs selling for $7.00 to $8.00 per head, and 

 wool soaring, men begin to ask what sort of foods best 

 agree with sheep. The answer is, that if there is one 

 thing that alfalfa is especially suited to, it is to the flock. 

 Sheep love alfalfa above all other forage, and for a good 

 reason. It is the one thing best suited to their needs. 

 They, more than other animals, need a ration rich in 

 protein. The growing lamb needs it to build his muscles, 

 blood, brain, nerves, and bone. The pregnant or nurs- 

 ing ewe needs it to replenish her system fast drained 

 by the demands of her offspring. The ram n^eds it to 

 keep up his vigor. The wool-bearing sheep, and all breeds 

 bear some wool, need alfalfa because it has in it the 

 peculiar elements that make for growth of good, healthy, 

 strong-fibered wool. And thus all sheep crave and love 

 alfalfa hay. Think for a moment what it means for an 

 animal to like a food. Liking in the animal world is not 

 whim or caprice. Man is the one animal, save a worm, 

 that chews tobacco the only animal that drinks whisky. 

 A1J animals crave things that are good for them. Why 

 do they hunger for fitting foods ? Because the very cells 

 of their bodies are calling to be built, and thus instinct 

 tells them that tough grasses nourish feebly if at all, 

 that tender, rich alfalfa leaves and steams have in them 

 substances that when assimilated go directly to build 

 the eager body cells, to reinforce the muscles and 

 strengthen the bones and link together the nerves. It 

 is a fact that sheep once accustomed to a diet of alfalfa 

 will scorn prairie hay and turn from good red clover ; 

 they seek that which nourishes best and digests most 

 easily, therefore that tastes best to them. 



For fattening lambs born on the great ranges and 

 kept there till weaning time in the fall, nothing can take 

 the place of alfalfa hay, if the greatest facility coupled 

 with the largest profits are sought. The lamb feeding 

 business has grown to magnificent proportions in Colo- 

 rado, where the abundant streams coursing down from 

 the giant snow-capped Rockies spread their life-giving 

 waters over the fertile plains. There alfalfa is at its 

 best estate, and nothing else is quite so profitable, saving 

 perhaps the crops that naturally follow on alfalfa sod 

 sugar beets, melons, or truck. Enormous amounts of 

 alfalfa hay are stacked up on these plains where the long, 

 dry summers favor hay making operations very greatly, 

 and when winter comes the lambs are bought and placed 

 in feed lots, and fed till spring on alfalfa hay with a 

 little Nebraska or Kansas corn or native barley or wheat. 

 These lambs often come from the ranges half starved, 

 having perhaps endured long drives and been held in 

 corrals and shipping pens until they are little more than 

 bone strung on end, but after they have eaten alfalfa 



Baled Alfalfa. 



