Choosing a Forage Crop 183 



as regards its value as a soil-builder, its richness in pro- 

 tein as a feed, and its general adaptability to southern 

 conditions. Cowpeas are considered more strictly a 

 hay or forage crop, while soybeans are usually looked 

 on more as a seed crop. Any locality which can grow 

 cowpeas successfully has a valuable forage crop for pigs 

 during the late summer and fall. Because of its nitrog- 

 enous nature, pigs fed corn on cowpea forage require 

 no additional feed. 



Cowpeas versus dry lot. 



At the Alabama Station^ three lots of pigs were pas- 

 tured on cowpeas and one was fed in the dry lot. In 

 each forage lot two plantings of peas were provided, one 

 early and the second a month later. The peas were 

 practically mature when the pigs were turned in. The 

 pigs were of normal quality and weighed an average of 

 53 pounds when the test began, August 12. The experi- 

 ment covered a period of 60 days and ceased November 5. 

 The results are shown in the table on the following page. 



The pigs on forage in this experiment made faster 

 gains than did those in the dry lot and there was a 

 saving of 367 pounds of grain in the production of 100 

 pounds of gain as a result of the forage eaten. But the 

 area of forage grazed was so large in each lot that the 

 charge of $8.00 an acre was sufficient to make the cost 

 of gains, in dollars and cents, greater than in the dry lot. 

 Although the cost of gain is but one of the factors which 

 must be considered in determining the actual profit or 

 loss, it is doubtful whether a yield sufficient only to 

 graze but little more than two pigs to the acre for 60 

 days would be profitable. The popularity of cowpeas 

 1 BuU. 168. 



