Lucerne for Horses.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 145, 5 April 1909, Page 3

Lucerne for Horses.

According to the information gained by the Kansas Agricultural College, and detailed in a bulletin on the subject, there seems to be an almost universal opinion among horsemen, and especially among those thatare raising heavy horses, that no grass or combination of grasses equals or even approaches the value of lucerne, or alfalfa as it is called, as a pasture for horses. It is maintained that from an economical point of view it has no equal as it will furnish so much more feed per acre than any other grass. It will not only pasture more horses, but it will produce horses of greater weight larger bones, and stronger muscles. " A horse that has been reared in an alfalfa pasture, and fed a light ration of alfalfa all winter, "says the bulletin, "makes one of the finest horses to be found in any market today. To produce a horse of the highest type, with the cleanest bon-*, the best developed muscle, the best temperament, and the greatest action and finish, nitrogenous feed must be used, and in no other feed can this most essential element of nutrition be so cheaply and so abundantly supplied as it can by feeding alfalfa. The most successful producers of both heavy and light horses are today using alfalfa extensively in the development cf their young horses. Its value for this purpose is not recognised by the Kansas feeders alone, for, seeing Kansas alfalfa • grown horses, Eastern breeders, where alfalfa cannot be grown, are sending their colts to Kansas alfalfa fields to be developed as they could not be at home.