A CHEAP FEED FOR HORSES
The larger users of hay in the towns and cities are liverymen, deliverymen and teamsters. These have been unacquainted with or doubtful of the utility of alfalfa and have never given it a fair trial, or possibly any trial at all. Those who have used it and thought its effects harmful have perhaps not understood its highly nutritious character and may have fed it in too large quantities. Having such a large protein content it should not be used with the same prodigality as prairie hay. For driving horses it should be cut when more matured than for other stock, or when about half in bloom, and should be well cured. Fed then, in reasonable rations of from ten to twenty pounds a day, livery horses may be kept in vigorous thrift with a small additional quantity of grain, and thus a saving be made of twenty to thirty per cent in cost of maintenance. In the alfalfa districts there may be found many liverymen who, having had experience with alfalfa hay, feed their horses little of anything else. In the last few years there has been a growing demand for alfalfa hay for southern towns and cities.
The coat and general appearance of horses fed alfalfa are improved, as compared with those fed timothy or prairie hay and the tendency to constipation and indigestion is greatly lessened. It is rarely that an alfalfa-fed animal of any kind is constipated.