564 A HISTOEY OF THE PERCHBEON HOESE 



I built bams, I no longer fed damaged hay to my 

 horses, and I have seen no signs of heaves among 

 them since. 



"I have raised colts from birth to maturity on 

 grain and alfalfa hay, and they have made before 

 weaning time from 100 to 150 pounds of gain a 

 month. I expect a colt from 5 to 6 months old to 

 weigh from 700 to 800 pounds, and at 12 months 

 about 1,200 pounds. I want more mature hay for 

 horses than for cattle, and they should clean it all 

 up each time it is fed. I consider one acre of alfalfa 

 cut and fed judiciously worth more than two acres 

 pastured. By judicious feeding I mean to give no 

 more than will be cleaned up each time. 



"I have had experience in both stacking and 

 housing hay; I am strongly in favor of housing. I 

 built a haybarn in the middle of an alfalfa field, 

 intending to cure the hay in the windrow, with buck 

 rakes take it to bam, drop it from the rake to a 

 sling, and so get it into the bam. But I found that 

 the dew, without any rain, bleached the hay, and 

 I decided to shock it. I could not handle it satis- 

 factorily with rakes, and so laid them aside. I made 

 floats, 7 by 14 feet with a railing 2 feet high at each 

 end. On each of these I laid a sling, with each end 

 fastened to the top of the railing. These I put on 

 a slingload, drove to the bam, hooked onto the sling, 

 and put the hay into barn. No leaves were wasted. 

 I am highly pleased with this method of handling 

 hay. 



"I regard alfalfa as the best hay for growing 

 out any kind of stock that I ever fed. I am careful 

 not to put it into bam in such a condition that it 

 will mow-bum." / 



Importance of Soundness. — Mr. J. S. Golder, a Ne- 

 braska breeder of long experience, gives some useful 



