28 BULLETIN 854. V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Fig 7.— Dairy cows on alfalfa pasture. 



out the alf alf a plants. Close cropping also prevents sufficient nour- 

 ishment reaching the roots to insure strong healthy plants, while, when 

 the ground is wet from irrigation or rains, tramping incident to con- 

 tinuous pasturing tends further toward root starvation by limiting 

 air circulation and interfering with the penetration of moisture. 



The more successful dairymen are adopting a system of rotation 

 pasturing (see fig. 8) described by the writer in Circular No. 54, United 



Fig. 8.— Rotation pasturing on a dairy farm. On the right an alfalfa crop being harvested by dairy 

 cows— 54 head on 20 acres. On the left an alfalfa field from which a crop of alfalfa has just been 

 harvested by dairy cows. 



