4 
PASTURING SHEEP ON ALFALFA. 
cial side of the transaction this has been counted at its equiva¬ 
lent feeding value in alfalfa. As soon as the lambs were 
dropped, some grain was added to the feed and both ewes 
and lambs were turned on to alfalfa April 20 . At this time 
the young alfalfa was barely showing green and the feeding 
of alfalfa hay and grain was continued until the green al¬ 
falfa was about four inches high. At first they were given 
the run of a field containing about three-fourths of an acre 
of fairly good alfalfa and half an acre of poor alfalfa, which 
was considered equal to an acre of medium alfalfa. The 
season proved very dry and as the field could not be irri¬ 
gated the alfalfa did not make enough growth to supply 
them all the food they needed. About the middle of June 
they were given access to a second field of two acres of 
alfalfa. Even with the aid of several pigs they could not 
keep up with both fields, and one cutting of the alfalfa was 
made for hay. It was estimated that the total green alfalfa 
eaten by the sheep and lambs was about equivalent to an 
acre and a half of good alfalfa that would cut from three to> 
four tons of alfalfa hay to the acre during the whole season. 
The sheep were shut up at night in a small corral to keep 
them away from dogs and coyotes. During all the summer 
they were fed half a pound of bran per day per head, of 
both sheep and lambs. On June 12 one of the ewes died of 
bloat and on June 20 one of the lambs followed its example, 
leaving us ten ewes and ten lambs. 
The ewes were sheared April 29 , yielding 54 pounds of 
wool from the ten ewes, showing that they were rather light 
fleeced sheep. 
The experiment closed September 6 , at which time the 
ewes weighed an average of 103 pounds and the lambs an 
average of 94 pounds. We sold the ewes for $ 3.50 per head. 
If we could have had the lambs in Chicago at that time 
they would have sold for $ 6.00 per head, but we had too 
few to make a shipment and so they are counted at their 
value in the Colorado market, i. e ., $ 4.00 per head. Thus 
the whole experiment was closed up in a few days over ten 
months. 
SU M MAR Y.—Expenses. 
To 11 ewes @$ 2.50 .$ 27.50 
Service of ram . 2.50 
Alfalfa hay, 5 pounds per day per head 
for 180 days, 5 tons @ $ 4.00 per ton. 20.00 
1600 pounds of grain @ $ 11.00 per ton. . . 8.80 
Total expenses 
$ 58.80 
