470 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



ration composed of practically two parts of alfalfa hay to one of corn. 

 The largest return per ton for the alfalfa hay, after paying for the 

 corn consumed, was made by the lot that received the largest propor- 

 tion of corn in the ration. Furthermore, the return per ton for the 

 alfalfa hay decreased with the decrease in the proportion of corn in 

 the ration. (N. M. B. 62.) Clover or alfalfa fed as hogs will eat 

 it, together with a grain ration, improves materially the rapidity of 

 the gain and the economy of the feeding. (Mon. B. 73.) 



Cowpeas as a Grazing Crop. Through the use of quick-matur- 

 ing varieties of cowpeas this plant can be made to be one of the very 

 early summer grazing pastures. If two or more varieties be used, or 

 if the same variety be planted at different dates, the grazing period 

 can be extended over several months. It is, perhaps, best to use other 

 plants, which will be mentioned later, to extend the grazing period. 

 Several of the southern stations have used the cowpea pasture for 

 hogs. The value of this pasturage is shown by the following results 

 at the Alabama station : 



Cowpea Pasture for Fattening Hogs. 



The Unknown variety of cowpeas was used in the foregoing 

 work. When the pigs were placed in the field the leaves were all 

 green and only one-half of the peas had taken on the color of ma- 

 turity. The other pods were all green, but most of them had attained 

 full size. Even with the thin stand and the rows far apart good 

 results were secured. When the corn was fed alone only 47.8 cents 

 was realized for each bushel, but when cowpea pasture was used in 

 addition to the corn each bushel was worth 71.3 cents (charging 

 the crop at $8 an acre, fertilizer not considered). When the cost 

 of the crop was not taken into account each bushel of corn proved to 

 be worth 91.3 cents. 



At the Mississippi station cowpea pasture was grazed without 

 grain. In 1903, although the crop was grown on thin land, 1 acre of 

 cowpeas produced 350 pounds of pork. In 1904 the crop was grown 

 on good valley land and produced 483 pounds of pork to the acre. 

 The hogs were turned on the crop when tho peas were ripe. Better 

 results would no doubt have been secured if the animals had been 

 given the run of the field about two weeks before the maturity of 

 the peas. 



In 1906 the Mississippi substation turned 8 sows with their 30 

 pigs into a red-clover pasture of 3% acres on March 20, the red clover 

 having been sown the previous fall. This furnished ample grazing 

 until August 20, when they were turned into a 4 1 /-acre lot of corn 



