426 



Kansas State Board of Agriculture. 



For growing shoats alfalfa will produce more gain than any other 

 pasture obtainable. Shoats on alfalfa alone will just about maintain 

 their body weight. Grain which is given in addition is used very largely 

 for increase in weight. The amount they should receive will depend upon 

 whether they are to be used for breeding or market purposes, time of 

 marketing, and the price of grain. If they are to be kept for the breed- 

 ing herd the grain should be limited to a certain extent, allowing them 

 enough to promote growth but not enough to become fat. Shoats weigh- 

 ing from 50 to 100 pounds will make better use of alfalfa than hogs of 

 any other weight. With corn at 60 cents a bushel young hogs will make 

 gains at a cost of $2.50 to $4 per hundred. 



FIG. 360. The plan of a rack for feeding alfalfa hay to swine. [Courtesy Breeder's Gazette.] 



The Kansas Experiment Station has conducted an experiment in which 

 pigs were full fed on ground corn, and on a mixture of ground corn 

 (62 per cent), shorts (30 per cent), and tankage (8 per cent), in the 

 dry lot, and on alfalfa pasture. The lot receiving ground corn in the 

 dry lot made only one-third the gain made by the lot receiving ground 

 corn on alfalfa pasture, and consumed twice as much grain to produce a 

 pound of gain. Of the lots receiving the grain mixture, the lot fed in 

 the dry lot made two-thirds as much gain as the lot fed on alfalfa pas- 

 ture, and required more grain per pound of gain. In another experi- 

 ment, in which older pigs were fattened on ground corn in the dry lot, 



