526 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



At the Oregon station, 12 hogs, three 

 months old, were fed for three months 

 hurdled on clover pasture and given 

 shorts and skim milk in addition. Dur- 

 ing this period they gained 253 pounds, 

 from which it is calculated that 1 acre 

 of good clover pasture has a feeding 

 value of $44.36 for growing pigs, valu- 

 ing the gains made at 4 1 /2 cents per 

 pound. Generally speaking clover may 

 be regarded as the equal of alfalfa for 

 hog pasture. 



Cowpeas for pasture — Cowpeas are 

 available for pasturing throughout the 

 South from July to November, and in 

 the North from July 20 to September 20. 



At the Alabama station, hogs gained 

 at the rate of 229 pounds per acre, on 

 cowpeas, consuming at the same time 3 

 pounds of gain, while on corn alone 586 

 On a field in which cowpeas were about 

 half matured and yielded at the rate of 

 13.2 bushels per acre, pigs required but 

 307 pounds of corn to produce 100 

 pounds of gain, while on corn alone 586 

 pounds were required. On this basis it 

 is calculated an acre of cowpeas would 

 replace 1662 pounds of corn. The qual- 

 ity of the pork made on cowpeas and 

 corn was equally as good as that made 

 on clear corn, and the lard of about 

 equal firmness. 



In another test at the same station, 

 pigs averaging about 57 pounds in the 

 beginning of the experiment were grazed 

 for 35 days on ripe cowpea vines of the 

 Whippoorwill variety. They were given 

 no grain during this time and made 

 a total gain of 51 pounds, or an aver- 

 age of 0.48 pound per day per pig. There 

 was considerable loss in grazing the ripe 

 cowpeas, as many of the peas fell to the 

 ground and sprouted. These results and 

 others show that much better results 

 will be secured if cowpeas are pas- 

 tured a little before they are ripe, and 

 a small amount of grain fed in addition. 



Experiments in pasturing cowpeas at 

 the Maryland station also show thai 

 this crop is well suited to young and 

 growing hogs. The ground is put in 

 fine condition by pasturing off with hogs 

 as it is worked over, manured, and the 

 vines well trampled down. 



At the Mississippi station, 14 young 

 pigs made an average daily gain of 1 

 pound per day on 1.7 acres of cowpeas 

 for 23 days without grain. 



Peanuts for pasture — As a result of 

 investigations at the various southern 



experiment stations, the use of peanuts 

 as a grazing crop for hogs is becoming 

 more general throughout the South. Ex- 

 periments have shown that this crop is 

 satisfactory during the early stages of 

 feeding, but that the pork produced on 

 peanuts is softer than that produced on 

 corn and for this reason it is usual to 

 take the pigs off the peanuts a month 

 before marketing and harden them up 

 on corn. Peanuts are available for pas- 

 turage from about August to December. 



In seven tests at the Alabama station, 

 hogs raised on Spanish peanuts and fed 

 one-fourth to one-half the usual grain 

 ration gained on the average 333 pounds 

 per acre. In two tests when young pigs 

 were pastured on peanuts and given no 

 other food in addition the gains were 

 281 pounds per acre. In the cases where 

 grain was fed with peanuts, it required 

 2^ pounds to produce a pound of gain. 

 The crop was much more profitable when 

 fed with grain. 



Peanuts tend to produce an oily pork 

 and soft lard. Cowpea meal was found 

 a little more effective in raising the 

 melting point of the lard from pigs 

 grown on peanuts than corn meal. 



In experiments at the station when 

 pigs were hurdled on peanuts not quite 

 come to full maturity, and fed corn in 

 addition, they made an increased growth 

 sufficient to give a value of $13.34 per 

 acre for the peanuts, valuing pork at 3 

 cents per pound. 



The Arkansas station reports an ex- 

 periment in which hogs weighing 124 

 pounds at the beginning of the test were 

 pastured 132 days on peanuts and made 

 an average gain of 73.5 pounds each. 

 A similar lot of pigs pastured for the 

 same time on soy beans made an aver- 

 age gain of 22.75 pounds, and another 

 lot on chufas, 39.33 pounds. Hogs the 

 same size gained 76.75 pounds when 

 shut up and fed dry corn in a pen dur- 

 ing the same period. On the basis of 

 this work it is estimated that 313 pounds 

 of pork was produced on one-fourth acre 

 of peanuts. The yield of peanuts with 

 87 per cent of a good stand was 90 

 bushels per acre. 



Peanuts in this experiment made soft 

 pork and oily fat, but the meat was of 

 good flavor. Other experiments at the 

 same station have shown that when pigs 

 were raised on peanuts and chufas, 

 either alone or combined, and fed corn 

 in addition, as good a quality of ports 

 and lard was produced as when the pigs 



