i6 
PASTURING SHEEP ON ALFALFA. 
present writer learned that Purvis Brothers have their 
fences coyote tight and do not have to bother about corral- 
ing the sheep at night. To still further lessen the danger 
from coyotes, they had taken to hunting them with grey- 
hounds and had killed seventeen so far during the season. 
To surround a whole farm with coyote tight fence would 
be rather expensive, but it would not cost much to fence 
five acres and drive the sheep in there at night, thus dimin-^ 
ishing the danger from bloat.] 
CHRISTIAN MARLMAN, Las Animas. 
Pastured 470 ewes and their lambs on alfalfa during May 
and June 1898. They ran on about fifty acres of alfalfa. 
They were turned onto the range June ii and remained 
there until the latter part of September. Lost in all about 
three per cent, by bloat. They ate all the first cutting, so 
that it cost us one-third of our hay crop. These lambs were 
dropped in March and weighed between 50 and 60 pounds 
when brought back from the range. We are well satisfied 
with the result and shall try it again next season. 
JOHN E. DONLON, Las Animas. 
In 1896 we pastured 1200 ewes with their lambs on 160 
acres of alfalfa and lost about eight per cent, by bloat. That 
year we fed no grain. In 1897 we fed 1,000 ewes and their 
lambs on the same field. This second year we fed corn chop 
to the sheep and lost only 2 per cent, by bloat. Both these 
years we had aged ewes and kept them on the field all the 
time, even when we irrigated it. We would not risk young 
ewes on alfalfa. In 1898 we have had such excellent feed 
on the prairie that we kept our sheep on the range most of 
the season. 
A. M. LAMBRIGHT, Las Animas. 
During 1897 we pastured 750 ewes and their lambs on 100 
acres of alfalfa and lost about three per cent by bloat. 
We kept them on the land the entire season, not changing 
when the land was irrigated. 
In the spring of 1898 we started 1,000 ewes on 160 acres 
of alfalfa, but the feed on the range was so good that we 
turned them onto the range the latter part of May. If we 
