162 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



The effect of feedino- a supplement to corn on alfalfa pasture is 

 shown by results given by Nebraska Experiment Station,* where three 

 lots of 10 145-lb. fall pigs were finished on alfalfa pasture, beginning 

 May 14 and fed for 56 days on corn alone or different proportions of 

 tankage and corn. 



These results, as was expected, show a more rapid gain where 

 a supplement like tankage was fed with corn, than with corn alone, 

 thus making the hogs come to a good marketable weight at a somewhat 

 earlier age. It will be noted, however, that corn alone and alfalfa 

 pasture made a gain of 11,4 pounds per day for a period of 56 days. 

 The corn and tankage made a gain of a little more than li/o pounds 

 per day. The grain required to make 100 pounds of gain was much 

 less when tankage was fed with corn than when corn alone was used, 

 the amounts being 366 pounds for one-tenth tankage ration per 100 

 pounds gain, 371 pounds for one-tM^entieth tankage ration, and 416 

 pounds for corn alone. At the price of corn at 60 cents a bushel, and 

 tankage at $44 per ton, the cost per 100 pounds gain, not counting 

 pasture, was $4.45 for corn alone, $4.18 for nineteen-twentieth corn, 

 and one-twentieth tankage, and $4.33 for nine-tenth corn and one- 

 tenth tankage, thus showing a slight saving by feeding a small amount 

 of tankage with corn. This experiment shows that if the extra work of 

 providing and feeding tankage is not too great, it may pay, especially 

 when pastures are not very strong and corn is high-priced, to feed 

 some kind of supplement with corn to hogs on clover or alfalfa pasture. 

 As a general proposition, however, the margin in favor of a supplement 

 to corn on clover or alfalfa is not enough to justify the extra labor 

 of securing and feeding it. 



COWPEAS AS HOG PASTURE. 



Every farmer is beginning to realize that a ration of corn alone 

 is not the most profitable one upon which to fatten hogs, and it is a 

 recognized fact that home-grown protein is the cheapest form with 

 which to balance a ration of corn. The legumes, such as clover and 



* Nebraska Bulletin 94. 



