SWINE 



525 



was 240 pounds per pig. The total cost 

 of thus producing pork on these forage 

 crops, with a small amount of gain from 

 birth to 10 months of age, was but V/2 

 cents per pound. The important fea- 

 ture of this whole experiment is that 

 only 6.6 bushels of corn was required 

 for each pig, a fact of great importance 

 to southern farmers in pig production. 



Pasture crops — There are any number 

 of plants suitable as pasture crops for 

 hogs. Among the most valuable are al- 

 falfa, clover, rape, peanuts, cowpeas and 

 blue grass. Throughout the northern 

 states, clover, alfalfa, rape, peas and oats 

 ivill furnish the best kind of pasturage 

 throughout the season. Eye can be sown 

 for early spring pasturage and nothing 

 better can be found late in the season 

 than rape or peas. 



The southern states are rich in forage 

 plants for hogs. Fall sown Dwarf Essex 

 rape will furnish a pasture from Decem- 

 ber to April and if spring sown, from 

 May to June. Vetch and oats may be 

 had for pasture from March to May, 

 cowpeas from July to November, Span- 

 ish peanuts from August to December, 

 sorghum from July to November and 

 chufas from November to March. Arti- 

 chokes, sweet potatoes and various other 

 roots and forage crops, besides grasses 

 and clover, are also available. 



Hogs are wasteful grazers and the 

 fields in which they are pastured should 

 be arranged with movable fences so that 

 the hogs can be confined on limited area 

 and when this is well grazed off can be 

 moved to new and fresh pasture. Every 

 hog raiser should plan to have a suc- 

 cession of forage crops for his hogs from 

 early spring until late fall, and the fat- 

 tening should be done while the pigs are 

 running at pasture, in so far as it is 

 possible. 



Alfalfa for pasture — At the Arkansas 

 station, alfalfa was ready for pasture 

 10 days before red clover. It could ha?e 

 been cut four times during the season 

 and produced considerably more feed 

 than clover. 



At the Montana station, nine brood 

 sows with 44 pigs maintained their 

 weight on alfalfa pasture without other 

 food from August 22 until October 10. 



The Oklahoma station pastured four 

 pigs averaging about 62 pounds each on 

 a field of alfalfa. They were turned in- 

 to the pasture April 27 and given no 

 other feed. In five weeks they had gained 



about 5 pounds each. During the next 

 three weeks they gained a little less than 

 2 pounds each. The season was favorable 

 and there was a good stand of alfalfa. 

 It was kept well eaten down, however, 

 by these four pigs. During the same 

 time these pigs were being fed, four 

 others averaging about 68 pounds each, 

 were turned into a field of alfalfa and 

 were given at the same time full feed of 

 kafir corn meal or shelled corn. The 

 first five weeks they gained on an average 

 50 pounds each and for the next three 

 weeks about 31 pounds each. 



They required but 2.2 pounds of grain 

 with the alfalfa to produce a pound of 

 gain. The alfalfa lot used to pasture 

 the pigs fed grain, carried at the same 

 time a half more stock than the other 

 lot and the alfalfa remained green and 

 fresh. 



At the Utah and Mississippi sta- 

 tions, alfalfa proved simply a main- 

 tenance ration for hogs. Hogs on this 

 pasture produced large, coarse frame3 

 and large stomachs. 



At the Kansas station, hogs without 

 pasture required 371 pounds of grain 

 per 100 pounds of gain. On rape pas- 

 ture, 301 pounds of grain and on alfalfa 

 pasture 300 pounds. The area of rape 

 required was about twice as great as in 

 the case of alfalfa. In this experi- 

 ment we see, therefore, that alfalfa was 

 fully as valuable as rape and supplied 

 twice as much food on the same area. 

 In another experiment at the Kansas 

 station, 1 acre of alfalfa pasture pro- 

 duced 776 pounds of pork. 



In general, it may be stated that in 

 the corn belt, wherever alfalfa can be 

 grown, the combination of alfalfa pas- 

 ture with corn produces about as cheap 

 pork as it is possible to produce in 

 America. And so far as experiments 

 have shown alfalfa is the equal of any 

 crop grown in the country as a hog pas- 

 ture. 



Brome grass has been used as a pas- 

 ture for pigs, with satisfactory results. 

 It was greatly relished by hogs at the 

 Ottawa station and gave good returns. 



Clover pasture — Common red clover, 

 white clover, alsike and mammoth clover 

 are all available throughout the North 

 for hog pasturage. In some of the east- 

 ern states, crimson clover is also success- 

 fully grown and used as a pasture for 

 hogs. In speaking of clover pasture, 

 common red clover is usually meant. 



