Pork Production With Forage Crops. 255 



PORK PRODUCTION WITH FORAGE CROPS. 



(C. A. Willson, Instructor in Animal Husbandry, University of Missouri.) 



The economy of production in hogs lies not in the use of cheap 

 grain, but in the substitution of cheap forages for grain. The exclusive 

 feeding of com to hogs in the past, while profitable while corn was 

 cheap, has resulted in hog feeding practices which are now unprofitable 

 with our present high priced grains and foodstuifs. The expenditure of 

 six pounds of corn to produce a pound gain in hogs may have been 

 profitable when corn was worth 25 cents and 30 cents per bushel, but it 

 is evidently now unprofitable when com is worth 70 cents per bushel. 

 We must, then, work out more economical systems for producing pork if 

 we are to continue producing this commodity. 



The rise in price of corn during the last three or four years has 

 been most fortunate for hog raisers, if for no other reason than that it 

 ^vill result in more rational systems of hog raising. The hog in his 

 normal habitat is a ranging and grass eating animal. It is as unnat- 

 ural, as well as unprofitable, to maintain hogs wholly upon the more 

 concentrated and heating foods as it would be to keep horses or cows in 

 the same manner. Range in pasture affords growing animals the exer- 

 cise so necessary to health and proper development ; and the succulent 

 grasses, rich in muscle and bone forming elements, tend to prevent dis- 

 ease and counteract the heating effects of corn. Grass is as essential for 

 the development and maintenance of swine as for cattle, sheep or 

 horses. 



The adaptability of forages for hogs will depend on the rate of 

 growth and succulence of the plant. The hog in his wild state lives 

 along lowlands and in forests bountiful with fruits, nuts and succulent 

 herbs and plants, and if we are to supply this part of his ration in 

 domesticity we must supply forage which has an abundance of succu- 

 lent juicy leaves. Neither is the hog adaptable for grazing short pas- 

 ture. He does not obtain his forage naturally in small mouthfuls as 

 does the sheep, cow or horse, but takes his forage from plants more rank 

 and vigorous in growth. He feeds quickly in the morning and even- 

 ing, and prefers the remainder of the day to lie in the shade. 



AMOUNT OF GRAIN ON FORAGE. 



While good forage will reduce the amount of grain necessary to 

 produce a pound gain from one-third to one-half, yet it should not be 

 used alone except when only a maintenance ration is desired. INIature 

 hogs, thin in flesh, may be expected to gain on good forage without 



