28 
BULLETIN 654, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Fig 7.— Dairy cows on alfalfa pasture. 
out the alfalfa plants. Close cropping also prevents sufficient nour- 
ishment reaching the roots to insure strong healthy plants, while, when 
the ground is wet from irrigation or rains, tramping incident to con- 
tinuous pasturing tends further toward root starvation by limiting 
air circulation and interfering with the penetration of moisture. 
The more successful dairymen are adopting a system of rotation 
pasturing (see fig. 8) described by the writer in Circular No. 54, United 
• 
'te*4 
L : _^_ 1-.-;.,,- - ■-■'■ ■•A--- ■■ ■■■- ■..--■>■ -I-.:*- 
Fig. 8.— Rotation pasturing on a dairy farm. On the right an alfalfa crop being harvested by dairy, 
cows— 34 head on 20 acres. On the left an alfalfa field from which a crop of alfalfa has just been 
harvested by dairy cows. 
