The Clayton news. (Clayton, N.M.) 19??-1954, 1915-11-13
SYSTEM TO IMPROVE ALFALFA
Rotation PaSturing Found TO be
Excellent Method of Keeping the
crop up 10 Standard.

ls being adopted IN Arizona Wnlcn
in the opinion of specialists in the
department, offers great possibilities
to alfalfa raisers in the southwest
Farmers who pastu.c alfalfa fire.
quently have difficulty in maintain
ing the stand This problem is es-
pccially acute in the irrigation sec
tiOns of the southwest, wnere the
season is long and livestock kept
in the fields practically all the year.
Continuous close pasturmg starves
the roots of the plants, and the
tramping of the wet soil does fur
ther damage. In consequence the
stand thins out rapidly, weeds gain
footing, and the productivity of
the fields is much decreased.
The Arizona system overcomes
these difficulties by keeping the live
stock off the fields until the alfalfa
is sufficiently mature to hay. The
animals are then turned into the
fields in large enough numbers to
harvest the crop quickly.
This system has been partly de-
veloped on many farms in the state,
but has been perfected on two farms
TO an extent which deserves par
ticular attention. The system prac-
ticed is fully outlined in Circular 54
of the Office of the secretary.
One of these farms situated near
Phoenix, Arizona, comprises 100
acres of alfalfa of the best type
found in the state. 1t is divided into
8 fields of 20 acres each, all in al
falfa. These fields are pastured at
different times during the year, but
occasionally the crop is cut for hay
instead of being pastured off. When
ready for pasture, dairy cows Civ
ing milk are first turned into the
fields. After they have secured the
best of the feed they are turned into
new field and followed by dry cows
aad young stock. These clean up
lne field and are in turn transfer
u TO another, the first field being
S4ttred and left TO mature another
crop. In the case of those fields
..hich are cut for hay, after the
- p has been put up with a hay
.J&0er, dry cows and young stock
1fe utilized to clean up the waste
.efore the field is watered.
The obvious advantages of this
y5tem is that the milch cows are
constantly supplied with the best
iced on the farm. Maximum re
rms from them are thus secured
while the second-class feed is quite
good enough to keep the dry cows
and young stock in good condition
Under this system the equivalent of
I 1853 full-grown cattle were kept on
the farm for ~ months and 360 tons
of surplus feed produced in addition
The stand of alfalfa has been main
tanned TO excellent condition for iC
years now.
In describing this farm the circu-
lar already mentioned is careful tC
point out that the returns have beer
far above the average because botf
in soil and management the farm i:
exceptional This is, however, NJ
apparent reason why the system
should not be equally applicable L
farms on which these advantages
are less marked.
Another farm near Yuma main.
tanned on i4O acres the equivalen
of i4i full-grown animals for 1.
months and produced in addition
surplus alfalfa hay and seed TO tn,
value of 81 800 This farm was div
ided into five fields-two of iS acre
each, two of 40 acres each, and on
of d acres Under the rotation
system one field was pastured hv
times and cut for hay once, on
field was pastured six times and Gu
for hay once, two fields were pastur
ed off four times and cut for ha
twice, and the fifth field was pas
tured twice, cut for hay once an
- cut for seed once. The circula
already mentioned gives in detail tn
pasture and crop records Of tn
farm.
Not only does this system resuI
in maintaining the stand of alfalf
and eliminating the obnoxious weed
but losses from bloat are reporte
as being greatly reduced Durin
70 months only three head wer
lost in this way.