IRRIGATED FIELD CROPS FOR HOG PASTURING. 35 
Circulars of the Office of the Secretary. 
No. 80. Disposal of City Garbage by Feeding to Hogs. Price, 5 cents. 
83. Swine-Judging Suggestions for Pig-Club Members. Price, 5 cents. 
102. Movable Hog Houses. Price, 5 cents. 
Yearbook Separate. 
No. 690. Agriculture on Government Reclamation Projects. Price, 5 cents.. 
SUMMARY. 
The irrigated lands of the western United States offer excellent 
opportunities for the production of pork in commercial quantities, 
and swine feeding has proved to be a satisfactory method of utilizing 
certain field crops, but the swine industry in irrigated districts in the 
past has experienced extremes of expansion and depression. 
One of the causes of this instability is a lack of knowledge as to 
the possibilities of using certain irrigated field crops and as to the 
value of these crops when measured in terms of pork production. If 
full advantage is taken of the wide range of feeds available to swine 
- growers on irrigated lands, pork production can be carried on more 
widely and with more assurance of success than has been the case 
heretofore. 
Most of the published information regarding the values of field 
crops used in swine production is based on conditions in nonirri- 
gated sections and can not always be applied satisfactorily under 
irrigated conditions. This js true particularly of those field crops 
which are pastured by hogs or hogged off. 
Since 1912 the Department of Agriculture has been conducting 
experiments and making observations regarding the utilization of 
irrigated field crops by hog pasturing. This.bulletin discusses the 
results of pasturing tests involving 149 lots of hogs containing a total 
of 3,795 animals. In these tests 89 lots containing 2,138 swine were 
pastured on alfalfa. The other lots were used on sweet clover, corn, 
field peas, and milo. 
Pasturing alfalfa with hogs has been shown to be a very satisfac- 
tory method of utilizing that crop and one of the cheapest ways to 
produce pork. To obtain satisfactory results the alfalfa pasture 
must be supplemented with some carbonaceous feed. When supple- 
mented with a 2 per cent ration of corn, barley, milo, wheat, or 
shorts, an acre of good alfalfa pasture can be expected to produce 
about 2,500 pounds of gain in live weight in a season. Gains as high 
as 4,292 pounds per acre were obtained in one of the tests reported 
here, a test in which the hogs received a 3 per cent supplementary 
ration of corn. The gains per acre of alfalfa depend on the size of 
the crop, the character of the hogs used, the method of management, 
and the quantity and quality of supplementary feed given. To pas- 
ture alfalfa without supplementary feed is not to be recommended. 
