FORAGE CROPS THAT MAKE GOOD 



125 



An analysis of rape on May 3, edible portion (and this was 

 when the rape was nice and young and tender, suitable for very 

 young suckling pigs that are allowed to slip through the fence 

 into the pasture away from their mothers) showed protein in 

 the dry matter 36.9 percent. Again we see that rape is an 

 excellent supplement to corn on the basis of its analysis. Years 

 ago folks used to look on rape as a carbohydrate feed, but the pigs 

 did not. We watched the pigs, and saw that their analysis 

 did not agree with chemists ' analyses. In other words, the pigs did 

 better on rape than one would expect, judging from the published 

 analyses of this plant. We therefore made some analyses, and 

 found that the pigs were right, and that the chemists had misled 

 us. Not that the chemists had made a mistake, but that the litera- 

 ture did not show definitely what their samples represented, and 

 we were led to believe that the low-protein analysis shown for rape 

 represented that which animals eat. But to make sure, our samples 

 were taken of just those portions which the pigs ate. We watched 

 the pigs as they ate rape and sampled accordingly and lo and 

 behold! the pigs were right. 



How much corn shall we feed on rape pasture and how shall 

 we feed it? Shall we limit the corn or give them considerable 

 of it? Some results follow: 



Animal Husbandry Results Iowa Experiment Station.* Growing and fattening 

 2% months old pigs, having an initial weight of 55 pounds and carrying them to a 

 final weight of 225 pounds. Feeding period began July 6th, and carried on pasture 

 November 13th, close of green season, after which all groups not yet reaching 225 

 pounds average weight were self-fed free-choice style or shelled corn plus tankage. 

 Tankage allowance was identical per pig in all groups to the close of the forage sea- 

 son, hence only difference was in corn allowed. 



*Work done by Evvard and Dunn. 



In the above test the self-fed group and all the hand-fed 

 groups were fed as much tankage as the self-fed lot IV required, 

 so that the meatmeal tankage allowance was identical per pig in all 

 groups to the close of the forage season, hence the only difference 

 was in corn allowed. On the basis of the above figures, it is found 

 that the self -feeding of corn and tankage on rape saved time, saved 

 high priced tankage feed, generally speaking, and saved pasture. 

 The grain saved by the acre of rape pasture equals, if contrasted 



