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



The data given in Table IX are the averages of four lots in each 

 ease anil are calculated to an acre basis. The hogs were on the experi- 

 ment 77 days in 1914 and 55 days in 1915, or an average for the two 

 seasons of 66 days. The average initial weight of the shotes in the 

 different lots was 81 pounds, and the average final weight was 164.4 

 pounds for the corn-alone lot, 185 pounds for the pasture lot, and 

 195.3 pounds for the tankage lot, or 1.25, 1.57, and 1.73 pounds of 

 daily gains, respectively. The tankage lot made 38 per cent faster 

 gains than the corn-alone lot and 10 per cent faster than the pasture 

 lot. The total gain, on an acre basis, was 744 pounds where the hogs 

 received only corn, 930 pounds where they had access to alfalfa pas- 

 ture, and 1,029 pounds when fed 300 pounds of tankage in connection 

 with the corn. The net return per 100 pounds of corn consumed was 

 $1.34 where corn was fed alone, $1.55 where the hogs had access to 

 alfalfa pasture, and $1.50 when they were fed tankage. A 100-pound 

 gain cost $5.61 in the corn lot, $4.88 in the pasture lot, and $5.26 in 

 the tankage lot. 



From the results of these tests it appears that it would be better 

 to buy tankage at $3.20 per hundredweight and feed it to hogs in 

 connection with hogged-off corn than not to supplement the corn, 

 but when the hogs can have access to alfalfa pasture it is doubtful 

 whether it would pay to feed tankage. 



The chief advantage of hogging corn is that the farmer is spared 

 the expense of harvesting the crop, hauling the manure back to the 

 land, and feeding the corn to the hogs. A disadvantage is the cost 

 of fencing. It seems certain that hogs will make as many pounds of 

 gain from a bushel of corn in the field as they will if the corn is har- 

 vested and fed in a dry lot. The question for the farmer to decide, 

 then, is whether it is cheaper to harvest the crop and feed the hogs 

 in a dry lot or to fence the corn and let the hogs themselves harvest it. 



SUMMARY. 



Because of the relatively small capital and short time required to 

 get a start in the swine industry and because of the high efficiency 

 of hogs in utilizing certain field crops, swine production is a specialty 

 promising industry for irrigation farmers. In order to secure infor- 

 mation regarding methods of utilizing hogs in the disposal of certain 

 field crops produced on irrigated lands, experiments were conducted 

 at the Scottsbluff Experiment Farm on the North Platte Reclamation 

 Project in 1912, 1913, 1914, and 1915. 



In three j'ears' experiments, including eight lots of hogs, in which 

 alfalfa pasture was supplemented with a 2 per cent ration of corn, 

 ;in average gain of 3,181 pounds per season was made from an acre 

 of alfalfa pasture and 7,844 pounds of corn. It required an average 



