2^2 SWIXE IN AAIERICA 



drink. This was all the feed they had during the winter, 

 and they were in good* flesh in the spring, with smooth, 

 glossy coats oi hair. A Kansas farmer was feeding a 

 bunch of 50 fall pigs on corn; during the winter they 

 got off feed and were not thrifty. He reduced the corn 

 and gave a ration of two-thirds chopped alfalfa hay and 

 one-third corn meal, the two soaked together. The hogs 

 began to do better, and a little later he changed the ration 

 to one-third alfalfa and two-thirds corn. The results 

 were very satisfactory, and the cost of feed was reduced 

 from $15 a month on corn to $9 a month on alfalfa and 

 corn. So alfalfa hay, as well as pasture, has a very im- 

 portant use on a hog farm." 



Prof. H. R. Smith of the Nebraska station says: 

 "I cannot recommend too strongly the feeding of good 

 alfalfa hay to any kind of swine. It not only furnishes 

 protein, or flesh-making material, which is deficient in 

 corn, but it tends to offset the heavy character of a ra- 

 tion consisting of corn alone. Some scatter the hay on 

 the ground, but it is better to construct some sort of a 

 rack through whicli the hogs can pull the hay without 

 trampling too much under foot. If the feeder has a 

 cutting machine it might be well to cut the alfalfa and 

 mix it with the grain. For fattening purposes do not 

 make this cut alfalfa more than one-fourth of the en- 

 tire grain ration by weight, and I would be inclined to 

 believe that one-fifth alfalfa would be better." 



Swine raisers in the alfalfa growing sections fre- 

 quently make the claim that cholera is unknown where 

 alfalfa flourished most, and that hogs given all the alfalfa 

 they will eat in a properly balanced ration, develop 



