168 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



OATS AS A HOG PASTURE. 



Another plant that can be sown for a time of pasture shortage 

 is oats. Six of our correspondents mention it as a pasture for spring 

 pigs and seven as a summer pasture for fall pigs, while four men- 

 tion it in connection with rye, cane, kale or cowpeas, as the best 

 forage to grow for hogs. Early sown, oats will do to pasture early 

 in the spring, when the hogs have to be taken from the rye or wheat. 

 It may also be sown w^ith rape and make more forage than with oats 

 alone, but there is the danger of the oats getting too woody and 

 being trampled down. Oats can be pastured lightly from the time 

 they are three or four inches high, and continued until heads are 

 forming, when the hogs should be removed until the grain is in the 

 milk, when, if desirable, they can again be turned in and allowed to 

 harvest the grain crop. Oats are especially good for sows and pigs, 

 and for furnishing early pasture. The composition of the oat plant 

 is such that it does not furnish the proper nutrients to balance a ration 

 of corn alone for growing hogs ; hence on oat pasture the hogs should 

 have a limited amount of nitrogenous supplement, such as shipstuff, 

 linseed oilmeal, or a small amount of tankage or meat meal. 



SORGHUM OR CANE, 



Sorghum deserves a good place in the list of useful short-lived 

 forage crops for hogs for hot weather and drouths. It is especially 

 useful on account of the large number of hogs it will pasture, furnish- 

 ing enough forage for twenty to thirty hogs per acre. It is not as 

 palatable and nutritious as the other forage crops mentioned, but is 

 used by many as a dry weather crop. One man says that sorghum, 

 when heading, furnishes the best forage he has used. It can be sown in 

 May and be ready for pasture in July. It will last during July, 

 August and September, and often later, and is especially useful dur- 

 ing the dry months. The composition of sorghum is also such that it 

 requires a supplement to the corn fed to obtain the best results. 



PUMPKINS. 



Pumpkins are especially relished by swine, and have been fed 

 with very satisfactory results. "While not distinctly a forage crop, 

 they are so useful in starting pigs on a ration of corn in fall or for 

 feeding sows and pigs that they deserve a place among green crops 

 for hogs. Pumpkin seeds are very rich in protein, and also act as a 

 vermifuge^ clearing animals of worms and putting the digestive organs 



