170 Pork Production 



The experiment was continued for each forage lot as 

 long as feed remained, the oats in the oats-alone lot being 

 exhausted 70 days earlier than the forages in the other 

 two. The pigs averaged 26 pounds when the experi- 

 ment began and were given full rations of ear-corn with 

 about 5 per cent of meat-meal. 



Because of the exceptional number of pigs carried on 

 an acre of the rape, this forage proved to be the most 

 profitable. This lot was pastured at the rate of 30 pigs 

 an acre until September 11, when the number was increased 

 to 60. Seven extra pigs were added to the lot on oats, 

 peas, and rape for 30 days in the last part of the experi- 

 ment. The oats alone proved to be a poor forage with 

 this method of pasturing, although the volunteer growth 

 supplied considerable green feed during the late summer. 



RYE 



One of the most valuable qualities of green rye as a 

 forage crop is that it furnishes a supply of green succulent 

 material during the seasons when the ordinary forage 

 crops and pastures are of little or no value. The merit 

 of the crop is its availability during the fall, winter, and 

 spring, rather than in its large yielding or grazing capacity. 

 The benefits to be derived from a patch of rye are per- 

 haps expressed more largely in the increased health and 

 thrift in the breeding herd and an increased milk-flow 

 from the sows with pigs, than in the saving effected in 

 the cost of producing gains when growing or fattening 

 pigs for market. If planted early in the fall, rye will 

 supply green feed, in an open winter, until late the next 

 spring, if carefully grazed. If pastured lightly in the 

 spring and the pigs not allowed to remain on it late, it 



