BREEDS OF SWINE 473 



acre would produce $26.64 worth. Peanuts and corn combined pro- 

 duced much more rapid gains than peanuts alone. The quality of the 

 pork produced by peanuts was much inferior to that produced by 

 corn. (Tex. B. 131.) 



Sorghum. Sorghum is less palatable and nutritious than many 

 other forage crops adapted to this region. For this reason many do 

 not like it as a pasture crop. Hogs do not thrive as -well on it as on 

 alfalfa and require more grain to keep them growing nicely. The 

 special value of sorghum lies in the fact that it furnishes a great 

 abundance of pasture in dry hot weather when alfalfa makes little 

 growth. After it is well started, say 2 feet high, it will furnish fairly 

 good pasture for 30 hogs to the acre for a few weeks, and a good crop 

 will carry 25 head of 100-pound pigs nearly all summer. (F. B. 

 331.) Mature sorghum pasture has very little to recommend it as. a 

 feed for fattening swine. Both the gains and the financial outcome 

 were unsatisfactory. When the sorghum was cut and carried to the 

 hogs the results were better than when the hogs were made to graze 

 the crop. (Ala. B. 143.) 



Sorghum is a green crop well thought of in the South as a feed 

 for swine. Its chief advantage lies in the large yields and the sure- 

 ness of the crop, there being very few seasons in which it fails. But 

 it must be remembered in planting a rotation of crops that sorghum 

 is not a legume, so that the land will not be made better on account 

 of its having been grown. It should also be borne in mind that 

 corn and sorghum do not make up a balanced ration for animals. 

 They are both low in protein, so if sorghum is to be used at all, the 

 concentrate feed should be partly made up of a feed high in protein, 

 as cotton-seed meal or tankage. Sorghum has probably one valuable 

 place as a hog feed to help carry the brood sows through the sum- 

 mer months economically when the pastures are short. Sorghum is 

 a bulky feed and is more suited to ruminants than to the hog. The 

 young hog makes no use at all of the leaves and the fibrous part of 

 the stalk; his stomach is too small for such bulky roughage, but older 

 hogs can use roughage to a considerable extent. (F. B. 411.) 



Plant8 for Winter Pasture. Many plants, in addition to the 

 ones previously mentioned, can be used for winter pasture. Of course 

 it is more difficult to secure winter than summer grazing, but with 

 the proper use of bur clover, rye, oats, vetch, and crimson clover all 

 fall sown there is little trouble to secure grazing areas throughout 

 the whole winter. Bur clover is a permanent pasture and will grow 

 upon almost any character of soil. It occupies the land with Ber- 

 muda, but makes its growth in the winter time and dies down when 

 spring appears, and the Bermuda takes its place. Rye, oats, vetch, 

 and crimson clover can be fall sown, following the general summer 

 crops, and be ready for use during the winter and early spring 

 months. 



Oats Pasture. The great value of oats is due to the fact that 

 they furnish succulent feed at a season when it is much needed. 

 They are also greatly relished by hogs. Oats are particularly val- 

 uable as pasture for sows and young pigs, many farmers sowing 



