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



leaving the rye at an earlier stage of its growth and pasturing the peas 

 when they were not so mature, and the increased acreage would more 

 completely fill the gap between rye and barley. With more forage 

 containing an increased total weight of grain, it is possible the corn 

 ration could be dispensed with. Peas appear to be very palatable, 

 both grain and vines being consumed. 



BARLEY. 



The 10 pigs were moved on July 20 from the plat of peas to the plat 

 of Success barley where they remained until August 7, a period of 

 18 days. At the beginning of the period the barley was in the hard- 

 dough stage, but many of the plants along the edge of the plat were 

 still comparatively green. It was observed that these green plants were 

 consumed by the pigs before grazing the mature barley. During the 

 first 10 days of the period a total gain of 42 pounds was made, but 

 during the last 8 days the animals lost in weight to such an extent 

 that trie returns for the entire period on barley showed a loss of 14 

 pounds for the lot. Though the barley was all eaten, it was clearly 

 evident that much of it was not digested by the animals and therefore 

 not assimilated. 



The crop on the acre check plat yielded 9.7 bushels of thrashed grain 

 per acre. 



There seems to be ample evidence that the barley was too mature 

 to be of the greatest benefit to the hogs. This crop approximated a 

 full grain ration, and it is possible that some roughage, such as alfalfa 

 hay, should be fed along with the barley pasturage when the crop is 

 so far advanced. If hogged-off when in a greener stage, there would 

 probably be no need for a supplement. 



The total increase in weight of the 10 pigs for the rye, peas, and 

 barley pastures was 595 pounds during the 92-day period, and the corn 

 fed totaled 2,116 pounds. At the end of the period the hogs were not 

 in a finished condition, but they had developed large frames and 

 fattened readily in the feed pens. 



CORN. 



A lot of four spring-farrowed pigs weighing 435 pounds was placed 

 on the acre of corn on September 30. At this time the corn was nearly 

 ripe, and the pigs consumed it readily. When the animals were 

 removed at the end of a 9-day period, the corn was well cleaned up, 

 and the pigs had made a gain of 71 pounds, or 1.97 pounds per pig 

 per day. 



The acre check plat husked out 16.5 bushels of corn of poor quality. 



The ratio of corn consumed (using the yield of the check plat as the 

 basis for figuring the yield of the pastured plat) was 13 pounds of corn 

 to a pound of gain. As the corn consistecl of a very large percentage 

 of small ears, or nubbins, distributed throughout the entire plat, con- 

 siderable energy had to be expended to find them. There seems to be 

 little doubt that more satisfactory gains would have been obtained if 

 the animals had been removed from the corn at an earlier date rather 

 than left on the plat until all the corn had been found. 



A small quantity of alfalfa hay was given the hogs while on the corn 

 pasture, but they apparently ate very little of it. 



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