144 3Iissuuri AyrtcuUural Kcpoii. 



the use of some home-grown protein in winter. It is not, of course, 

 to be denied that the hog is primarily a grain-consuming animal; 

 at the same time forage plays an important role in econoinical hog 

 production, and deserves far more attention than it has yet re- 

 ceived." 



For the purpose of obtaining information as to the best forage 

 crops used as hog pasture in this State-, a list of questions was ad- 

 dressed to about eight hundred representative hog growers of this 

 State. This list of questions included the following: 



What kind of pasture do you provide for your brood .sows and spring pigs? 

 How many months do you provide pasture for hogs? 



How do you feed spring pigs in connection with your pasture, before weaning? After weaning? 

 What daily gains do you make on them, before weaning? After weaning? 

 What pasture, if any, do you provide for fall pigs in winter? 

 What pasture, if any, do you provide for fall pigs the following summer? 

 What do you feed fall pigs the following summer? 

 How do you prepare this feed? 



Will hogs make a satisfactory gain on pasture alone? If so, on what kind of pasture will they 

 do this? 



How many fall pigs can you pasture to the acre? 



What pasture do you provide for breeding stock, in winter? In summer? 



When is the best time to turn hogs into pasture in order to get the greatest benefit from it? 



What, in your opinion, is the most profitable forage crop to grow for hogs? 



In reply to this list of (juestions, 204 replies were received. It 

 is fair to assume that an average lot of farmers were represented in 

 these reports. As a well established practice among the best farmers 

 is usually correct, this list of replies may be regarded as representing 

 the best practices to follow in regard to pastures. 



KINDS OF PASTURE TO USE. 



Pasture for Spri)uj Figs and Brood Sows. — In reply to the ({ues- 

 tion, "What kind of pasture do you provide for your brood sows 

 and spring pigs'?" seventy-nine out of one hundred three farmers 

 in the northern half and thirty-seven out of seventy-six in the south- 

 ern half of the State mentioned bluegrass either by itself or in con- 

 nection with some other forage. This pasture, of course, is in most 

 cases supplemented by white clover in its season, which springs up in 

 permanent pastures in almost all parts of the State. In fact, twenty- 

 one correspondents in the northern half and eight in the southern 

 half of the State mentioned this kind of clover in connection with 

 the bluegrass. Twenty-nine correspondents in the northern and nine 

 in the southern parts of the State use "red clover," while the re- 

 plies included the term "clover" in forty-two instances in northern 

 Missouri and fifty-four instances in southern Missouri, thus making 



*As a bulletin is^bsing prepired on the care of the brood sow and her litter, the feeding of pigs 

 bsfore weining tim3 and pasture for^the brood^sow^has^not been discussed'ln this publication. 



