14 FORAGE CROPS FOR HOGS IN KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA. 



the hogs will not break down and destroj'^ so much of the crop. Early- 

 sown rape will furnish pasture from May until August. If rape is 

 not grazed too closely in the spring and the stalk is not eaten off, it 

 will grow up and make fall pasture. 



A good growth of rape will supply pasture for about 15 or 20 hogs 

 to the acre. One man claims that it will take 25 head to pasture 

 it down. 



It is often difficult to get hogs to eat rape at first if they have not 

 been accustomed to it. For this reason it is not grown by some. Its 

 value as a forage crop, however, is shown in the experiments of the 

 Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, where it was proved to 

 have a feeding value per acre, when combined with a ration of corn 

 and shorts, equivalent to 2,43G pounds of grain and a money value of 

 $19.19 per acre. "\Mien the cost of seeding is counted, rape proves 

 valuable for pasture, as the seed can be bought usually for 8 cents a 

 pound and 3 to 5 pounds an acre is all that is needed. Eape should 

 not be pastured until it is a foot high. 



Considerable complaint is found with rape because it causes sores 

 and scabs on the hogs. Sometimes the skin has the appearance of 

 being blistered. This is especially true of white hogs. This diffi- 

 culty can be remedied somewhat by removing the hogs to other 

 pasture crops for part of the time and applying a mixture of sulphur 

 and lard to the sores. 



As one of the annual forage crops rape is valuable on account of the 

 cheapness of the pasture, the quantity of feed furnished, the general 

 thriftiness of the hogs on' the pasture, and because it adds variety to 

 the ration and is available at a time when other pastures may be short. 



SORGHUM. 



Sorghum is used quite extensively in the drier upland regions for 

 summer pasture. It is valuable on account of the great amount of 

 feed furnished, pasturing from 20 to 30 head of hogs per acre. It 

 comes in as a summer pasture when other pastures are frequently 

 short on account of hot, dry weather. It is soAvn in May and fur- 

 nishes pasture during July, August, and September, or even later. 



Sorghum is less palatable and nutritious than mau}^ other forage 

 crops adapted to this region. For this reason many do not like it as 

 a pasture crop. Hogs do not thrive as well on it as on alfalfa and 

 require more grain to keep them growing nicely. 



The special value of sorghum lies in the fact that it furnishes a 

 great abundance of pasture in dry, hot weather when alfalfa makes 

 little growth. After it is well started, say 2 feet high, it will furnish 

 fairly good pasture for 30 hogs to the acre for a few weeks, and 



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