682 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



eat 4 to 5 per ct. of legume hay, the hay should then be chopped and 

 mixed with the concentrates. If this can not be done conveniently, the 

 leaves and chaff which fall to the floor where the hay is pitched from the 

 mow may be gathered up and mixed with the concentrates. With clover 

 hay, which is much less palatable to swine than alfalfa, it may be neces- 

 sary to use one of these methods even with brood sows. 



1010. Alfalfa hay; alfalfa meal. Leafy, bright alfalfa hay is the best 

 of all legume hays for swine. Not only is this hay useful for brood sows 

 but it is a cheap and fairly efficient supplement to corn or the other 

 cereals for fattening pigs. While fattening cattle and sheep will consume 

 enough alfalfa hay to make a well-balanced ration with corn, the fatten- 

 ing pig has not this capacity for roughage, and hence will not consume 

 enough hay to balance his ration sufficiently to produce maximum gains. 

 This is shown in the following table, which summarizes 5 trials in each of 

 which one lot of pigs has been fed corn with alfalfa hay in racks, while 

 another lot was fed corn and tankage: 



Alfalfa hay vs. tankage as a supplement to corn 



Daily Feed for 100 Ibs. gain 



Average ration gain Corn Supplement 



Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. 



Lot /, * Alfalfa hay, 0.84 Ib. Corn, 6.0 Ibs 1 . 15 530 68 



Lot II,* Tankage, 0.63 Ib. Corn, 6.3 Ibs 1 . 50 421 41 



*Average of 2 trials by Snyder (Nebr. Bui. 147) ; and 1 each by Gramlich and Jenkins (Nebr. Bui. 175) ; 

 Griswold, Miss. Station (Information to the authors); and McCampbell (Kan. Cir. 78). 



The pigs fed alfalfa hay and corn gained 1.15 Ibs. a head daily, which 

 was much better than if they had been fed corn alone, but was 0.35 Ib. less 

 than those fed corn and tankage. In each trial the pigs fed tankage as 

 the supplement returned more profit than those fed alfalfa hay and corn. 

 These trials show that unless protein-rich concentrates are unusually high 

 in price compared with grain and alfalfa hay, it will usually prove most 

 profitable not to use alfalfa hay as the only supplement to grain for 

 fattening pigs. Alfalfa hay is most efficient as a supplement in fine 

 winter weather when the pigs have good appetites for the hay and corn. 



While alfalfa hay is not highly efficient, due to its bulky nature, as the 

 only supplement to grain, adding 3 to 5 per ct. by weight of the hay to 

 such a ration as corn and tankage improves it materially. This is shown 

 in the following table, which summarizes the results of 2 trials by Gram- 

 lich and Jenkins at the Nebraska Station 168 and 3 by Morrison, Bohstedt, 

 and Fargo at the Wisconsin Station. 160 In the Nebraska experiments one 

 lot of 140-lb. pigs was self -fed corn and tankage, free choice, and another 

 lot was fed in addition alfalfa hay in a rack. In the Wisconsin trials one 

 lot of pigs, averaging 65 Ibs., was self -fed a mixture of corn and tankage 

 in proper proportions, while another lot was self -fed a mixture containing 

 in addition 3 to 5 per ct. chopped alfalfa: 



16S Nebr. Bui. 175. 

 169 Unpublished data. 



