2 BULLETIN 1143, U. S. Di PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
and forage crops which of themselves are of secondary importance 
but which fit in well with approved crop rotations and agricultural 
systems. For example: Experiments have shown, and practical 
farmers have found, that m many parts of the dry-land sections of 
the State the yields of small grains grown after corn are almost as 
large as on summer fallow, and the net returns are correspondingly 
greater when the corn crop can be profitably used. Corn generally 
has a greater value when fed to live stock than when harvested and 
sold as grain. The return of fertility to the land through the medium 
of manure is recognized as a factor in establishing a system of perma- 
nent agriculture. | 
ere animals are produced, raised, and prepured .or market on 
the farm it is generally essential that some sort of pasture be a part 
of thescheme. The open range or other native-grass pasture answers 
this purpose in many cases for cattle and sheep. In the more thickly 
settled communities pasture will often have to be confined to culti- 
vated crops. Where this is the case, hogs will more often be used — 
than any of the other meat-producing animals. 
With this phase of dry-land farming in mind, a series of hog- 
pasturing experiments was outlined and begun at the Huntley, 
Mont., Experiment Farm in 1915. 
PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THE EXPERIMENTS. 
The principal purpose of the experiments was not so much to 
determine the value of the several crops pastured from the standpoint 
of profit in pork production as to collect agronomic data bearing on 
the following points: 
(1) The seasons at which the different crops become available for grazing by hogs 
and the length of time each crop will furnish palatable forage. 
(2) The carrying capacity or number of hogs per acre these crops will support. 
(3) The possibility of fitting together or matching up these crops, by means of a 
rotation or otherwise, so that their respective pasture periods will form continuous 
grazing over a considerable season. 
(4) The agronomic effect of manure, the result of pasturing, on the yield of crops. 
(5) The economic merits of pasturing these crops as contrasted with the usual 
methods of harvesting them. 
While these five points are of primary importance in this work, 
the behavior of the animals themselves in point of gain or loss in 
weight is important as an indicator of the palatability and the 
quantity of forage produced. For this reason the results of pasturing 
are presented in pounds of gain. 
The plats used in the pasturing experiments were 1 acre in area. 
They were 620 feet long and 70.3 feet wide. A 7-foot ay separated 
the plats on their long sides, and a 20-foot road bounded them on the 
ends. Suitable fencing, shelter, and water facilities were provided 
for the animals on each plat. 
Pigs of the Duroc-Jersey breed were used in this work whenever 
obtainable, and the animals were placed on the pasture as soon as 
the forage was ready. : 
Individual hog weights were taken frequently enough during the 
pasture season to compare the conditions of the animals with the 
depletion of the forage and to form a basis from which to calculate 
the grain supplements to be fed. These weighings usually took 
place at intervals of 10 to 14 days or oftener as conditions demanded. 
The initial and final weights used were generally the average of 
weighings made on three consecutive days. 
