FORAGE CROPS FOR HOGS IN KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA. 41 
a good crop will carry 25 head of 100-pound pigs nearly all summer. 
Generally speaking, it is used only to fill in during dry, hot weather 
when alfalfa is at a.standstill. 
) COW PEAS. 
Cowpeas are just beginning to be recognized in this section as hav- 
ing great feeding and fertilizing value. They do much toward restor- 
ing the fertility of the soil, and some farmers are making use of the 
vines as a forage crop for their hogs. Wherever they have been tried 
the farmers are enthusiastic in their praise of them. Not enough data 
have been obtained on pasturing to be able to say how many head of 
hogs cowpeas will support per acre; but in a comparison of their feed- 
ing value with corn for hogs the results obtained by the South Caro- 
lina Experiment Station show their importance. In this test 6.02 
pounds of corn and 4.91 pounds of cowpeas were necessary to produce 
a pound of pork. One farmer in Oklahoma reported that his hogs 
preferred the cowpea hay to alfalfa hay. All kinds of stock are fond 
of the hay and do well on it. 
The value of cowpeas as a forage crop lies in the fact that they fur- 
nish a food on which the hogs make good gains. The plants will 
make a good growth on rather poor soil and furnish feed during late 
summer and fall when other green crops may be short. They also 
bring the soil into a more productive state, the same as clover or 
alfalfa. 
If cowpeas are planted in May they will make late summer pasture. 
The best pasture is obtained after the peas are formed and well grown, 
as the peas are very nutritious and cause the hogs to gain in flesh 
rapidly.. 
In this same latitude in the higher altitudes, as in the San Luis Val- 
ley in southern Colorado, where it is too cold for corn, the farmers 
have found the Canadian field pea a very profitable crop for forage 
both for sheep and hogs. A large acreage of these peas is put in each 
year, the peas being sometimes sown alone, but more frequently with 
‘oats or barley. The seeding is done in April or early in May, and the 
crop can be pastured by midsummer. The best season for pasturing 
however, is later, when the peas have formed, the stock being allowed 
to harvest the crop. Hogs make a very thorough harvesting, clean- 
ing up the peas and the vines quite thoroughly. What vines are left 
on the ground, together with the manure, enrich the soil and add more 
humus to it. In addition to this the labor of harvesting is saved. 
Some fields, of course, are harvested for hay and make excellent win- 
ter forage for cattle, horses, and sheep. The hogs raised in this valley 
receive no corn. They go on the market as bacon hogs and top the 
market in competition with corn-fed hogs. These hogs usually get no 
111—1yv 
