BULLETIN 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief. 

 February 25, 1914. 



PASTURE AND GRAIN CROPS FOR HOGS IN THE 

 PACIFIC NORTHWEST. 



By Byron Hunter, Agriculturist, Office of Farm Managew,ent} 



INTRODUCTION. 



This bulletin deals specifically with crops and systems of cropping 

 that may be used in economical pork production in the Pacific North- 

 west. Scattered here and there throughout the Northwest are men 

 who are successfully producing pork. They have been visited, and 

 their methods, crops, and feeding systems have been studied. This 

 bulletin makes the practices of these successful men available to all. 



Owing to the rapid growth in population of this section during the 

 last decade, the demand for pork has increased faster than the sup- 

 ply, and there is littlo reason why hog raising should not become a 

 more important industry in the Pacific Northwest. Although there 

 have been some outbreaks of hog cholera, the Northwest has been 

 remarkably free from this disease. The larger cities have well- 

 equipped packing houses, and modern union stockyards are in opera- 

 tion at Portland, Oreg. During recent years a large percentage of 

 the hogs slaughtered in the cities of Portland, Taconia, Seattle, and 

 Spokane have been shipped from east of the Rocky Mountains. In 

 addition to this, enormous quantities of eastern bacon and lard are 

 annually consumed by the Pacific Coast States. 



MANAGEMENT OF PASTURES. 



Since economical pork production depends largely upon the con- 

 sumption of a great deal of cheaply grown feed, the pasture should 

 be so managed that the forage produced will be clean, tender, and 

 palatable. In practice, hog pastures are generally managed in one of 

 three ways: (1) Continuous close grazing, (2) alternate pasturing 

 of equal areas, and (3) pasturing the meadow. 



Note.— This publication is intended to encourage hog raising in the Pacific Northwest; it is especially 

 adapted to Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. 



1 Mr. Hunter is now State leader in charge of Farm-Management Field Studies and Demonstrations 

 in the State of Washington, and is employed cooperatively by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture and the State College of Washington. 



23557°— Bull. 68—14 1 



