FORAGE CROPS THAT MAKE GOOD 129 



to take pigs out when they begin " spitting out the cud," which is 

 about the time the rye begins to joint. To stay in longer is to de- 

 crease the grain yield, and to depend on a pasture that is getting 

 steadily poorer and poorer in its farm grain-balancing character- 

 istics. Keep your eye out for the cuds of rougl cellulose, "asbes- 

 tos-like" material and then when found transfei the pigs to other 

 pastures. 



Effects of Green Rye. In some years green rye pasture is 

 quite a laxative. If much trouble is experienced in this respect, 

 some bloodmeal at the rate of 1/10 to 1/5 of a pound per pig daily 

 may help some, but if that does not remedy it, then transfer them 

 to other pastures for a time, or else alternate other pastures with 

 the rye. 



Winter wheat is a splendid pasture when young and tender in 

 the late fall and early spring. We have thought it a better pas- 

 ture, so far as pigs are concerned, than rye. It will not carry so 

 many pigs as rye pasture, but they will do better on it, and make a 

 little more rapid gains with a little less feed outlay. We are in- 

 clined in certain seasons, under certain conditions, to favor wheat 

 over rye. It cannot stand the pasturing, however, and must be 

 handled more delicately. 



i 



Common field oats can be pastured when quite young, but oats 

 pasture is not nearly so good as rye or wheat. Sorghum is de- 

 pended on by some, but it is a poor pasture for swine. It does not 

 contain the constituents that are necessary. It is too rough and 

 fibrous and unpalatable. It makes a better shade and wind-break 

 than a pasture. 



Soybeans are sometimes promoted and pushed as a banner 

 swine forage crop in the great middle west. They are dependable 

 in the southland and in the southern sections % of the cornbelt, but 

 when one tries to grow soybeans in the northern portions of Illi- 

 nois, Iowa and sections of similar latitude, he finds trouble in 

 getting beans that will mature. At Ames we have not been partic- 

 ularly successful with soybean pasture, for swine. In fact, we have 

 been relatively unsuccessful. We have tried them out on quite a 

 large scale but years ago found difficulty in maturing them. We 

 are continuing our investigations, however, and trust that the fu- 

 ture will show them up more favorably. We have varieties devel- 

 oped now that ripen nicely in safe season. 



In our past experience rape, alfalfa, young, tender bluegrass 

 and green, growing sweet and red clover have all greatly excelled 

 soybeans, the pigs doing better on these crops, gaining faster, and 

 requiring less feed for 100 pounds of gain. We believe, however, 

 that soybeans can be used in the cornfield to good advantage but 

 even in the northern sections of the cornbelt if rape can bo used, 

 so much the better. 



