HAY FOR SHEEP FEEDING. 399 



this system of farming the productiveness of the 

 place is steadily and rapidly growing. 



Comparative Value of the Hay. — Numerous tests 

 have been made at experiment stations of alfalfa 

 hay compared with wild hay or timothy hay or some 

 other roughage for sheep and lambs. In every case 

 great superiority for alfalfa has been shown. Thus 

 Burnett found that lambs eating alfalfa hay and 

 shelled corn made 52 per cent greater gains than 

 those fed corn and prairie hay. Similar results were 

 had in Wyoming. 



Feeding Operations in the West. — It is in Color- 

 ado, western Kansas and Nebraska that one sees 

 alfalfa feeding in successful operation in a large 

 way. There sheep and lamb feeding is an art and a 

 science. Alfalfa is of course the cornerstone of it. 

 On the excellence of their alfalfa depends all their 

 chance of profit and success. In truth the aim is to 

 feed the sheep or lambs as much alfalfa as possible, 

 and thus economize as far as may be in grain, which 

 is often the costly part of the ration. , 



Methods in Use. — The method of feeding is ad- 

 mirably simple. As a rule no sheds are used in Col- 

 orado since no rain falls in winter and not much 

 snow. Yards are erected in somewhat sheltered 

 places and the fences so built that sheep can thrust 

 their heads through and eat alfalfa hay which is 

 drawn from the ricks directly to the yards and piled 

 against the fence. From time to time it is pushed 

 up to them as they consume it. Grain is fed in 



