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. 
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