220 Western Live-stock Management 
Kale. 
Kale is used to a very limited extent for pasturing. Its 
most common use is that of a winter soiling crop in climates 
that do not fall below the freezing point. At such seasons 
cultivated ground is too wet to pasture. 
Alfalfa. 
Throughout the irrigated sections alfalfa makes a very 
heavy yielding pasture. Sheep grow and fatten rapidly 
on alfalfa pasture, while the heavy yield makes the cost 
low. Unfortunately there is always danger of bloat on 
alfalfa, especially in midsummer. The average loss of 
ewes and lambs on alfalfa pasture is about 10 per cent for 
the season. This figure, however, represents only the 
approximate average. In actual farm practice one may 
sometimes pasture alfalfa for several years and not lose a 
sheep and again half or two-thirds of the flock may be lost 
in one day. So far no sure preventive has been dis- 
covered, ‘although innumerable plans have been tested. 
The farmer who uses alfalfa for his sheep must, therefore, 
figure on taking some chances. 
