Pastures for Hogs. 



145 



a total of ninety-two out of one hundred three replies from the north- 

 ern and seventy-one out of seventy-six in the southern half of the 

 State that included clover in some form. 



AVhile these two kinds of plants furnished by far the greater 

 amount of pasture used, several other kinds were mentioned that 

 may serve as a regular pasture, or to fill up a gap between regu- 

 lar periods of pasturing permanent crops. For convenience the 

 State was divided into the northern and southern halves and the 

 replies tabulated according to this division. The following table 

 shows the kind of pasture preferred in the two sections of the State : 



Based on the assumption that the practical hog raiser is usually 

 right, the replies tabulated above indicate that for spring pigs and 

 brood sows, bluegrass, bluegrass and clover, or clover alone furnish 

 the best and most convenient pasture for the average farm condi- 

 tions. Practically the only other crops that will furnish pasture 

 the entire season are timothy, alfalfa and possibly rape, the others 

 mentioned being used as temporary pasture to fill a gap in the per- 

 manent pasture. 



The relative value of clover, alfalfa and bluegrass as a pas- 

 ture for spring pigs is shown by a trial reported by Dean Waters 

 in Bulletin 79 of the Missouri Experiment Station. The pigs used 

 were spring pigs, weighing at the time the trial was to begin — July 

 25 — about fifty pounds each. The trial lasted for 102 days — from 



A— 10 



