﻿4 BULLETIN 1143, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



results. It therefore seems best to present the details of the experi- 

 ment year by year. This allows opportunity for brief discussions of 

 the seasons and explanation of apparent deviations or omissions from 

 the outlined program. 



The pasturing work in 1915 was of a preliminary character and was 

 confined to the rotation of annual crops. The land used was broken 

 from native sod the previous fall and all the crops were planted in 

 the spring. This being the case, White Smyrna barley, a bearded 

 varietv, was used in place of winter rye. The season was cool, the 

 rainfall was abnormally heavy, and all crops made yields considerably 

 above the average. The hogs used were fall pigs of the Duroc-Jersey 

 and Poland China breeds and were borrowed from neighboring 

 farmers for the work. 



Nine hogs, totaling 1,366 pounds, were placed on July 14 on the 

 plat of White Smyrna barley, where they remained until July 30, a 

 period of 16 days. At the tune the pasturing began the barley was 

 m the soft-dough stage. From the actions of the animals and the 

 small gains made it was readily seen that the crop was unpalatable 

 because of its beards, and the hogs were removed to the plat of 

 Success barley. While on the White Smyrna barley a total gain of 

 only 40 pounds for the lot was made. The check plat of this crop 

 yielded 43.8 bushels of thrashed grain per acre. 



Seven fall pigs having a combined weight of 986 pounds were put 

 on the plat of peas on July 17, when the grain was in the dough stage, 

 and remained on it until August 3. During this period of 17 days 

 the lot made a total gain of 280 pounds, or about 2.4 pounds per pig 

 per day. The check plat yielded 8.4 bushels of thrashed peas per 

 acre, but as much oi the grain was lost by shelling out during 

 harvest the actual yield was somewhat higher. No supplementary 

 ration was fed with the peas. 



The plat of Success barley was stocked on July 17 with eight pigs 

 weighing 1,224 pounds. On July 30 the nine pigs from the White 

 Smyrna barley plat were added. At this time these pigs weighed 

 1,406 pounds. 



The total lot of 17 pigs was removed from the Success barley plat 

 on August 11. Thus, the crop carried eight pigs for a period of 25 

 days and nine pigs for a period of 12 days. The first lot of eight pigs 

 made a total gain of 129 pounds, or an average daily increase of 0.65 

 of a pound each. The lot of nine pigs added on July 30 made a total 

 gain of 90 pounds, or 0.83 of a pound per pig per day. The harvested 

 plat yielded 33.2 bushels of grain per acre. 



The plat of corn was harvested by 10 spring pigs weighing 1,115 

 pounds. This lot was placed on the corn on September 29 and 

 remained there until October 24. A total gain of 480 pounds was 

 made in the 25-day period. This is 1.92 pounds a day for each pig. 

 One of the animals suffered from rheumatism toward the last of the 

 season and did not gain as rapidly as the others. The plat of corn 

 husked out by hand yielded 33 bushels of grain per acre. 



The experience of 1915 was valuable in working out the relationship 

 these crops have to one another in regard to cultural methods, growth, 

 season of pasture, and palatability. Methods of handling the hogs 

 and the technic in regard to taking the individual weights were also 

 developed. 



