Pastures for Hogs. 143 



have proven very successful in neighboring states. They furnish 

 more grain per acre than cowpeas, hence are more valuable as a 

 hog feed, where they can be grown successfully, than the latter. 



Artichokes furnish a succulent feed for fall and early winter. 

 They are not injured very much by freezing, and can be pastured 

 at any time during the winter when the ground is not frozen. For 

 keeping the hog healthly and in good condition physically, they are 

 very valuable. 



Pigs or shoats on a good winter pasture will be in much better 

 health and will make faster and cheaper gains than when no pasture 

 is furnished. 



Rye and wheat furnish the best winter pasture for hogs. Blue- 

 grass, if not pastured too heavily in the fall, also makes a good 

 winter pasture. Rye should be sown in August and September in 

 order to give the best pasture. Wheat usually makes better fall 

 pasture, but is not as good for spring pasture as rye. 



A good pasture for hogs can easily be provided by using tem- 

 porary and quick-growing crops, such as rape, oats, cowpeas, etc. 

 These crops should be planted in different fields, and one pastured 

 while another is growing. The inconvenience of clover dying can 

 be overcome by proper use of quick-growing crops. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The hog, in his natural state, was not an exclusive grain eater; 

 plant and animal life in any form Avas made use of as food for 

 this wild beast. But as he became domesticated the hog was de- 

 prived of the opportunity to search for and choose his own food, 

 and had to be content with whatever was given him. So easily fat- 

 tened and so uncomplaining is the hog that he came to be regarded 

 as purely a grain-eating animal. Until within the last few years, 

 the hog would, with cheap feed, return a profit when fed grain alone 

 on an unsuitable pasture, or possibly no pasture at all. With feeds 

 at the price they have been for the last few years, the man w^ho 

 feeds in a dry lot, after the old style of fattening, is engaging in 

 a very doubtful investment, to say the least. Dean H. J. Waters 

 of the Missouri Agricultural College says: "Perhaps the largest 

 single waste occurring on the Missouri farm at the present time is 

 that which comes from the too exclusive use of corn in growing 

 and fattening hogs. The cheapest and most easily applied remedy 

 is a more general use of the proper forage plants in summer and 



