166 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



''With pigs from four to ten months old, representing the various 

 breeds of swine, an acre of rape, when properly grown, has a feeding 

 value, when combined ^ith a ration of corn and shorts, equivalent to 

 2,436 pounds of the mixture of these grain feeds. 



"Rape is a better green forage for growing pigs than good clover 

 pasture, the pigs fed upon rape having made on the average 100 pounds 

 of gain on 33.5 pounds less grain thaiT was required by the pigs fed 

 on clover pasture. 



"Rape should be sown for this purpose in drills thirty inches 

 apart to facilitate cultivation of the ground after each crop of forage 

 is eaten off. 



"Hogs should not be turned in until the crop is twelve to four- 

 teen inches high, and should be prevented from rooting while pas- 

 turing rape. 



"Rape alone is not a satisfactory feed. Hogs will just about 

 maintain their weight on it." 



The value of rape, compared with clover, can be seen by the fol- 

 lowing results of the Wisconsin Experiment Station:! 



No. pig.s 



Initial weight 



Grain per 100 lbs. gain 

 Daily gain per pig .... 



It will be noted that not only was there a saving of grain, but 

 that the gains were more rapid when rape pasture was used in- 

 stead of clover. These results have been duplicated at various ex- 

 periment stations, among them Missouri and Kansas," the latter re- 

 porting the following with rape compared with alfalfa, pastured ninety- 

 eight days, with ten 52-pound pigs :* 



It is seen that pigs on rape pasture made almost exactly the same 

 gains as those on alfalfa pasture, with the same amount of grain re- 

 quired to make a pound of gain. 



fWis. Ex. Sta. Annual Report, 1898 and 1899. • 

 * Kansas Press Bulletin 122. 



