34 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 
alfalfa without any grain. They sold on the market for 53 cents a 
pound. This made the cash value of the alfalfa pasture about $38.35 
per acre. As will be seen, this is light pasturing, as there were only 
about 4 pigs per acre besides the brood sows. 
As already stated, it is much better economy to furnish a grain 
ration with the pasture, as it results in better gains and a better prod- 
uct. One man estimates that it takes from one-half to one-third less 
corn on alfalfa pasture than on a straight grain ration to make a hog 
ready for market. Many let the hogs run on alfalfa until about five to 
six months old, by which time they reach a weight of 75 to 125 pounds, 
feeding just a little grain; then they feed heavily for about two months 
and sell the hogs at eight months old weighing 200 to 225 pounds. 
One farmer, who raises about a thousand hogs a year and who in one 
year sold $11,200 worth of hogs, makes a practice of growing his hogs 
on alfalfa pasture until about eight months old, feeding one ear of 
corn per head daily. He then feeds heavily on corn for a month or two 
and sells at an average weight of 200 to 225 pounds. Another man 
feeds all the corn and slop the pigs will clean up, all the while run- 
ning them on alfalfa pasture, and sells at six to eight months old at 
weights of 250 to 300 pounds. Another, who raises about a thousand 
head a year, feeds all the corn the pigs will eat, beginning shortly 
after weaning and continuing until the hogs are sold at ten to eleven 
months old, averaging about 275 pounds. 
Still another farmer, from weaning time (two months old) until 
eight months old, feeds the pigs nothing but dry corn on alfalfa pas- 
ture, averaging about one-half gallon of corn (33 pounds) a day per 
head. At the end of eight months he sells at an average weight of 
250 pounds. Feeding the above quantity of corn a day makes the 
amount fed about 114 bushels per head. Figuring this at the average 
price of corn in this locality, 35 cents, and the price received for pork, 
54 cents, the following results will show the cost of growing pork on 
this farm and the value of alfalfa pasture: 
Value of 250-pound hog, at 52 cents“) a eee $13. 75 
Value of pig at weaning, 50 pounds; at 54 cents___2_ = 2. 15 
Gain. from pasture and. grain] 222) ee eee 11. 00 
Cost of 112 bushels of corn, -at_ 35 Cents=— 2 3. 93 
=I 
i) 
=I 
Value of pasture per head pastured eee 
Now, compare these results with those of a man who had to depend 
on other pasture crops than alfalfa. He estimates that it will take 
15 bushels of corn on wheat, oats, and rye pasture to raise and fatten 
a hog so it-will weigh 240 pounds at nine months old, besides the 
pasture and slop. At the price of corn mentioned, 35 cents a bushel, 
111—1Vy 
