ALFALFA FOR SWINE. 407 
alfalfa. They are happily wedded together, corn 
and alfalfa. 
Grain Needed.—It is as unwise to feed either corn 
or alfalfa alone to hogs as it would be to send to a 
mason bricks alone or mortar alone. He cannot 
build a wall without bricks and mortar in right pro- 
portions. So the hog cannot build without corn and 
alfalfa in right amounts. One can trust him to eat 
the alfalfa, feeding it freely; there will not be too 
much consumed. He can not let the hog choose how 
much corn he will eat because he will eat too much 
for greatest profit. The corn should be limited, the 
alfalfa unlimited. Thus come cheapest gains and 
most profit. 
Amount of Grain.How much grain when on al- 
falfa? The Nebraska experiment station has reached 
this conclusion: 
A light grain ration is not the most economical for growing 
pigs, unless under peculiar circumstances, when alfalfa is abun- 
dant, grain very high in price, and market conditions warrant 
holding the hogs. It seems probable that two or more pounds of 
corn daily for each hundred weight of hogs is more profitable 
than a lighter ration. 
Mature hogs, thin in flesh, may be expected to gain about half 
a pound per head daily on alfalfa without grain. Mature hogs, 
fed corn in a dry lot while being fattened, required nearly one- 
half more grain to produce 100 pounds gain, and gave a daily 
profit of 3 cents less per hog than similar hogs running on alfalfa 
pasture. Alfalfa may be fed with profit to growing or fattening 
hogs in almost any form so long as it does not make up too large 
a proportion of the ration. When cut (chopped or chaffed) and 
fed as one-quarter of the ration with ground corn it materially 
reduced the cost of gains and increased the profits. 
Value of Alfalfa Pasture—Certainly this varies 
according to the productiveness of the pasture, the 
