DISPOSAL OF IRRIGATED CROPS THROUGH THE USE OF HOGS. 5 



rate of approximately 2.3 pounds daily for each 100 pounds of live 

 weight. Figure 1 shows the fiye shotes on alfalfa pasture. 



On July 6, eight spring pigs, weighing a total of 273 pounds, were 

 put on the alfalfa plat from which the previous lot had been removed. 

 It was soon apparent that these eight pigs would not keep the pasture 

 fed down, and on July 20 four more, weighing a total of 139 pounds, 

 were added. All 12 pigs were unable to keep the pasture fed down 

 during the early part of the period, so that it was necessary to clip 

 the alfalfa once on each half of the plat. The 12 pigs were kept on 

 this plat until September 10, when 6 were removed, the other 6 

 remaining until September 30. During September, however, the pas- 

 ture made but little growth and the 6 pigs gained only 59 pounds 

 during the 20-day period. While on the alfalfa pasture, the hogs 

 gained a total of 697 pounds from the quarter-acre plat of alfalfa 

 and 1,267 pounds of corn, the latter being fed at the rate of approxi- 

 mately 2.3 pounds daily for each 100 pounds of live weight. 



The results secured in 1913 with these two lots of hogs on alfalfa 

 pasture are summarized in Table I, in which the data have been 

 calculated to an acre basis. 



Table I. — Results obtained by feeding two lots of hogs on alfalfa pasture, sup- 

 plemented ivitli approximately a 2 per cent corn ration, at the Scottsbluff 

 Experiment Farm in 1913. 



Items of comparison. 



First 

 period. 



Second 

 period. 



Entire 

 season. 



Number of hogs 



Total gain per acre pounds . 



Average daily gain per acre do. . . 



Corn fed do... 



Grain per pound of gain do . . . 



Gain per 100 pounds of grain do... 



Financial statement: 



Net returns per acre of pasture 



Daily net returns per acre of pasture 



Cost per 100 pounds of gain (pasture at §15 per acre) 



Equivalent paid for hay, per ton 



20 

 1,524 



24.8 

 4,188 



2.75 

 36.4 



S61. 88 



1.01 



3.25 



33.63 



48 

 2,428 



28.2 

 5,068 



2.09 

 49. S 



Silo. 72 



1.35 



2.64 



32.07 



3,952 

 26.1 



9, 256 

 2.34 



42.7 



§177.60 



1.17 



2.S8 



32.85 



A very important fact shown in Table I is the large number of 

 hogs carried per acre of alfalfa pasture. From May 1 to July 2 the 

 carrying capacity of an acre was at the rate of 20 hogs with an aver- 

 age initial weight of 108.9 pounds, and from July 20 to September 

 10 the carrying capacity was at the rate of 48 hogs with an average 

 initial weight of 39.8 pounds. The total final weight of the first lot 

 was 3,700 pounds, whereas the total initial weight of the second lot 

 was only 1,900 pounds. This shows that the smaller the hogs the 

 less total live weight the pasture will carry ; that is to say, twenty 

 25-pound pigs will require more pasture than an equal weight of 

 100-pound shotes. 



