18 BULLETIN 488, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
This lot was fed 1.098 pounds of corn. For each 100 pounds of corn 
fed this lot gained 36.2 pounds. The daily net return per acre of 
pasture was 81.09. In lot 8. which also received corn, the sows were 
gilts and were much lighter than the old sows in the other two lots. 
At the beginning of the experiment the two sows weighed -168 pounds, 
and when taken oif the plat on June 9 they weighed 430 pounds, a 
loss of 38 pounds. The initial weight of the 15 pigs was 118 pounds 
and the final weight 541 pounds. The total gain of the lot was 385 
pounds. While on pasture this lot was fed 8&± pounds of corn, the 
lot producing 43.8 pounds of gain per 100 pounds of grain. On an 
acre basis, the daily net return for pasture was SI. 17. 
The initial and final weights for both sows and pigs, with their 
loss or gain, and the amount of grain fed for the 1911 lot and the 
three 1915 lots are given in Table VI. 
Table VI. — Weights of the sows and pigs and ///< amount of grain fed while 
on one-fourth of an acre of alfalfa pastun fur 60 days, at the Scottsbluff 
Experiment Farm in 1914 "' l '^ 1915. 
Items of comparison. 
Number of sows 
Number of pigs 
Initial weight of sows pounds . . 
Initial weight of pigs do 
Final weight of sows do | 
Final weight of pigs do 
Loss by sows do 
Gain by pigs do 
Xet gains do 
Grain fed do 
As shown in Table VI. the pigs used in 1911 were much larger than 
those used in 1915. the former being older than the latter. If the lot 
had not been charged with the loss in weight of the sows, the results 
would have been still more favorable, especially in the 1911 lot and 
in lot 7. In these two lots, for some reason, the sows lost much more 
than in the other two lots. More complete data obtained from 
pasturing sows and their litters on alfalfa in 1911 and 1915 are given 
in Table VII. in which 'the results have been computed to an acre 
basis. 
As shown in Table VII, the net returns were higher in 1915 than 
in 1914. The average of the four lots shows that it required 2.62 
pounds of grain with alfalfa pasture to produce 1 pound of gain, or 
for every 100 pound- of grain fed the sows and pigs gained 38.2 
pounds. The average net return per acre of alfalfa pasture for 60 
days was 866. 51. r a daily net return of $1.11. The lowest net 
return for the pasture was 851.11 and the highest 877.76. This 
highest net return was obtained from the lot fed ground barley. 
1914 
1915 
Lot 6, 
Lot 7, 
Lot 8, 
Corn. 
2 per cent 2 per cent 
2 per cent 
barley. 
corn. 
corn. 
2 
2 
2 
2 
14 
17 
15 
15 
702 
702 
873 
46S 
164 
58 
S3 
118 
6 '3 
674 
780 
430 
636 
504 
574 
541 
99 
28 
93 
38 
472 
446 
491 
423 
373 
418 
398 
385 
1,176 
982 
1,098 
884 
