ALFALFA FOR SHEEP. 



Alfalfa for Sheep. — All sheep love alfalfa either 

 green or dry. The very nature of the animal makes 

 alfalfa a suitable food for it. Sheep need foods rich 

 in protein. It takes such food to make good wool, 

 red flesh, blood, bone, milk. Sheep are usually 

 either young and growing or else are ewes giving 

 milk, or pregnant and developing within their bodies 

 unborn lambs. Growth calls for protein. Milk calls 

 for protein. Wool calls for protein. The protein 

 requirement of the sheep is greater than with the 

 cow. This much for theory. 



Essential to Profit. — The practical part of it is 

 that experience has shown that sheep dearly love 

 alfalfa, green or dry, and thrive exceedingly on it. 

 In fact it is hard to make profit in America in sheep 

 farming unless one has alfalfa hay to fall back upon. 

 The best shepherds are provided with it. It is fed 

 during winter time in the sheep folds ; ewes yean on 

 a diet of alfalfa hay; they suckle their lambs with 

 milk made chiefly from alfalfa; they go sometimes 

 to pasture composed of a mixture of grasses and al- 

 falfa; the lambs are fattened on alfalfa hay and 

 grain. The sheep industry in America with alfalfa 

 taken away would almost collapse. Millions of 

 sheep are fattened mainly on alfalfa hay. It is the 

 very foundation stone of the industry. 



