224 SWINE IN AMERICA 



SOWS from 12 to 18 months old, that were due to farrow 

 in the latter days of June, on a hve-acre field of alfalfa. 

 They were given no other feed than the alfalfa pastur- 

 age until the}- liad farrowed and their pigs were a week 

 old. After that the sows had in addition to the alfalfa 

 some bran slop until about August 20, when new corn 

 was fit for feeding. He says : "The sows from the time 

 tliey were turned on the alfalfa until the last week in 

 June made a remarkable growth, besides gaining some- 

 what in flesh. They did well with their pigs, reared an 

 average of seven to each sow, and as sucklers they were 

 a sight to see. The pigs were the most attractive bunch 

 ever raised in Cotfey county, as admitted by our breed- 

 ing competitors. We weighed a gilt from this lot when 

 six months and five days old, and her weight of 225 

 pounds was not above the average of the whole lot. In 

 our lifelong experience in rearing swine we have found 

 nothing as a grazing crop for them that in value ap- 

 proaches alfalfa." 



F. M. Sumpter, of Sumner county, Kansas, tells the 

 author he raises and markets 500 to 600 hogs annually. 

 These are grown principally in his abundant alfalfa pas- 

 tures, with perhaps an average of an ear of corn per 

 day until their six weeks' fattening is begun, when they 

 arc heavily fed with corn. The unique circumstance 

 i:] connection with his successful operations is that he 

 does not stock his pastures heavily enough to prevent 

 harvesting from them three cuttings of hay each season. 

 a^^eraging a ton per cutting. The advantage he claims 

 for this is that the hogs have continuously a fresh, ten- 

 der growth to graze on instead of the coarse, woodv 



