16 BULLETIN 488, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



When a charge of $15 per acre is made for the alfalfa pasture, the 

 total cost per 100 pounds of gain was as follows: No-grain lot, $2.33; 

 1 per cent corn lot, $3.29; 2 per cent corn lot, $3.22; 2 per cent barley 

 lot, $3.14; and the 3 per cent corn lot, $3.48. The no-grain lot made 

 gains for $1.15 per hundredweight less than the 3 per cent corn lot 

 diil. It might appear from this that to pasture hogs on alfalfa 

 Avithout grain is the best practice, but this is not generally true, 

 because of the much smaller returns of pork per acre. 



Perhaps the most impressive thing shown in Table V is the amount 

 paid for hay and its very rapid increase with the increase in the grain 

 rations. The 2-year average yield of alfalfa hay from the check 

 plats was 5.52 tons per acre. On this basis and assuming that the 

 care of the hogs is equal to the cost of harvesting the hay, the no- 

 grain lot paid an equivalent of $8.1G; the 1 per cent grain lot paid 

 $12.71 ; the 2 per cent grain lots, an average of $22.67, and the 3 per 

 cent grain lot, $30.48 a ton for alfalfa. 



It seems certain that it will pay the farmer to feed hogs on alfalfa 

 pasture at least 2 pounds of corn daily per 100 pounds of live weight. 

 By so doing he will not only get a higher return from his alfalfa. 

 but he may expect also to make a profit on the corn fed. According 

 to these results, it requires less capital for the same net return where 

 grain is fed than where no grain is fed. When a 3 per cent corn 

 ration is fed with alfalfa pasture, 1 acre will produce as much pork 

 as 6.5 acres of alfalfa without grain, or a saving of 5.5 acres of land. 

 Again, when fed a 3 per cent corn ration with alfalfa pasture, 52 

 pigs will make as much pork as 156 pigs on alfalfa pasture alone. 



ALFALFA PASTURE FOR SOWS AND LITTERS. 



The following is a discussion of the results obtained by pasturing 

 sows and their litters on alfalfa pasture. The first experiment began 

 in the spring of 1914, as soon as the alfalfa was large enough to 

 pasture, and continued 60 days. There were two sows and their 

 pigs in each lot. During the first month and a half the quarter-acre 

 plat furnished plenty of pasture, but after that time the pigs were 

 so large that the pasture could not carry them all. When the pigs 

 were large enough to wean, one or both of the sows were removed to 

 prevent overpasturing. 



The sows and pigs were fed daily approximately 2 pounds of corn 

 for each 100 pounds of the weight of both sows and pigs. At first 

 the grain was fed to the sows only, but later, when the pigs began to 

 eat. they were fed separately. A small opening was made in the 

 dividing fence, so that the pigs could go from one half of the pasture 

 to the other. Both sows and pigs were fed twice daily, morning and 

 evening. There are two wavs of looking at the results of these 



