FEEDS FOR SWINE 373 



meal on soybean pasture was only $2.59 to $3.36, with corn at 70 

 cents per bushel and soybean pasture at $8 per acre. Soybeans are 

 often grown with corn and the combined crop hogged down. 



Especially on poorer soils in the southern states, the cow-pea is an 

 important forage crop for swine, as it nourishes where other legumes 

 will not produce good crops. Cowpeas are excelled by soybeans where 

 the latter thrive, as they yield more seed. Like soybeans, cowpeas 

 and corn are frequently hogged down. 



As has been already mentioned, peanuts are an important crop for 

 fall feeding in the South. Velvet beans furnish excellent pasture for 

 pigs in the extreme South where they thrive. 



Among the permanent grasses, bluegrass provides the best pasture 

 thruout the northern states. As bluegrass makes little growth dur- 

 ing mid-summer, other crops should be provided for this season, the 

 bluegrass being relied on for grazing in spring and early summer and 

 again in early fall. With pigs fed corn on bluegrass, a somewhat 

 larger allowance of protein-rich supplements is needed than on legume 

 or rape pasture, tho very young bluegrass is fairly rich in protein. 

 In the South, Bermuda grass furnishes the best permanent grass pas- 

 ture for pigs. 



Wheat, rye, oats, and barley are unexcelled for fall and early 

 spring pasture in the North and for pasture from late fall thruout 

 the winter and spring in the South. Winter rye and winter oats will 

 furnish pasture thruout the entire winter in the South, greatly de- 

 creasing the cost of maintaining brood sows and raising fall pigs. 



Ripe grain, usually rye, bald barley, or wheat, is frequently hogged 

 down, the pigs being turned into the field when the crop is nearly 

 ripe. This practice is especially common in the grain districts of the 

 . Pacific Northwest, where the summers are dry. It is doubtful whether 

 it is generally profitable to hog down the small grains in the humid 

 districts, if labor can be secured to harvest the crop. 



Especially on grain farms of the West, stubble fields are an impor- 

 tant factor in economical pork production. Where the grain is har- 

 vested by the header, considerable is left ungarnered and this was 

 formerly wasted ; now many farmers are hog fencing their fields and 

 turning pigs on the stubble to glean the scattered heads of grain. 

 Gains made on such waste are almost clear profit. 



Boots. — We have seen in previous chapters that for cattle and 

 sheep silage from corn and the sorghums is about as satisfactory a 

 succulent feed as roots, and usually costs much less. With pigs, how- 

 ever, silage will not replace roots, for they can not utilize large 

 amounts of such coarse, fibrous feeds as silage. The value of roots 

 for pig feeding is well shown by the average results from 8 trials at 



