Value of Vanoiis Feeding Stuffs for Swine. 



5^ 



ical way of carrying them over summer. Pasture alone did not 

 furnish a satisfactory ration for pigs, since it but little more than 

 maintained them. Pigs lost in weight when fed green alfalfa in 

 pens, and pigs fed skim milk and grain gained nothing from pas- 

 ture. Grazing stimulates the appetites of pigs getting grain but 

 no milk, and hence they eat more grain and make larger and more 

 economical gains. 



Lloyd of the Mississippi Station^ found that alfalfa pasture alone 

 furnished little more than a maintenance ration for pigs, and the 

 studies of Morrow and Bone of the Oklahoma Station- confirm this 

 conclusion. Snyder of the Nebraska Station'* found that during a 

 period of 70 days, mature hogs, thin in flesh, gained about 0.5 lb. 

 daily on alfalfa pasture without grain. Hitchcock,* referring to the 

 conditions west of the IMississippi river, states that there is no dan- 

 ger of bloat from alfalfa pasture, and that a limited number of pigs 

 work no serious injury to the alfalfa field. A well-set, vigorous field 

 will carry from 15 to 25 pigs per acre. The number should never 

 be large enough to keep down growth, but it should be necessary to 

 cut the hay at intervals, so that the plants may be rejuvenated. (246) 



895. Alfalfa and rape pasture. — In a feeding trial with pigs at 

 the Kansas Station^ Otis supplemented alfalfa and rape pasture 

 with a full grain ration. Thirty 52-lb. shotes were divided into 3 

 lots of 10 each. One lot was pen-fed while the others ranged on 

 alfalfa or rape pasture, the trial lasting 98 days : 



Pasturing pigs on rape and alfalfa. 



The 3 lots made nearly equal daily gains. Rape and alfalfa 

 produced 100 lbs. of gain with practically the same grain allow- 

 ance, and either feed when combined with grain gave better re- 

 sults than grain alone. One acre of alfalfa proved equal to 2 acres 

 of rape. Snyder of the Nebraska Station*' found that, after their 

 pigs were weaned, 260-lb. brood sows, fed 8.5 lbs. each of shelled 

 corn daily and grazing on alfalfa pasture, made 8 per ct. larger 

 gains than others fed 11 lbs. of shelled corn each daily in dry lots — 



Ept. 190.5. 

 'Ept. 1899. 

 36 



^ Bui. 99. 



* Farmers' Bui. 214, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



= Bui. 124. 

 • Bui. 99. 



