6 BULLETIN 1143, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
leaving the rye at an earlier stage of its growth and pasturing the peas 
when they were not so mature, and the increased acreage would more 
completely fill the gap between rye and barley. With more forage 
containing an increased total weight of grain, it is possible the corn 
ration could be dispensed with. Peas appear to be very palatable, 
both grain and vines being consumed. 
BARLEY. 
The 10 pigs were moved on July 20 from the plat of peas to the plat 
of Success barley where they remained until August 7, a period of 
18 days. At the beginning of the period the barley was in the hard- 
dough stage, but many of the plants along the edge of the plat were 
stillcomparativelygreen. Itwas observed that these green plants were 
consumed by the pigs before grazing the mature barley. During the 
first 10 days of the period a total gain of 42 pounds was made, but 
during the last 8 days the animals lost in weight to such an extent 
that the returns for the entire period on barley showed a loss of 14 
pounds for the lot. Though the barley was all eaten, it was clearly 
evident that much of it was not digested by the animals and therefore 
not assimilated. 
The crop on the acre check plat yielded 9.7 bushels of thrashed grain 
per acre. 
There seems to be ample evidence that the barley was too mature ~ 
to be of the greatest benefit to the hogs. This crop approximated a 
full grain ration, and it is possible that some roughage, such as alfalfa 
hay, should be fed along with the barley pasturage when the crop is 
so far advanced. If hogged-off when in a greener stage, there would 
probably be no need for a supplement. 
The total increase in weight of the 10 pigs for the rye, peas, and 
barley pastures was 595 pounds during the 92-day period, and the corn 
fed totaled 2,116 pounds. At the end of the period the hogs were not 
in a finished condition, but they had developed large frames and 
fattened readily in the feed pens. 
CORN. 
A lot of four spring-farrowed pigs weighing 435 pounds was placed 
on the acre of corn on September 30. At this time the corn was nearly 
ripe, and the pigs consumed it readily. When the animals were 
removed at the end of a 9-day period, the corn was well cleaned up, 
and ue pigs had made a gain of 71 pounds, or 1.97 pounds per pig 
er day. 
: The Ae check plat husked out 16.5 bushels of corn of poor quality. 
The ratio of corn consumed (using the yield of the check plat as the 
basis for figuring the yield of the pastured ce was 13 pounds of corn 
to a pound of gain. As the corn consisted of a very large percentage 
of small ears, or nubbins, distributed throughout the entire plat, con- 
siderable energy had to be expended to find them. There seems to be 
little doubt that more satisfactory gains would have been obtained if 
the animals had been removed from the corn at an earlier date rather 
than left on the plat until all the corn had been found. 
A small quantity of alfalfa hay was given the hogs while on the corn 
pasture, but they apparentiy ate very little of it. 
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