6 
BULLETIX 488, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
From a farmer's standpoint a very significant fact shown in Table 
I is the high return per acre of alfalfa pasture after the value of 
the corn fed is deducted from the value of the gains. With the first 
lot this was $61.88 and with the second lot $115.72, or a total of 
SI 77.60 per acre for the season. If it is assumed that the value of 
the labor necessary to care for the pigs is equal to the cost of harvest- 
ing the hay crop, the hogs paid an equivalent of $33.63 a ton for the 
first cutting and 832.07 a ton for the second and third cuttings. This 
estimate is based on the assumption that the pastured plat would 
have produced hay at the same rate as the average of 11 similar plats 
in the same field. On the Xorth Platte project $6 a ton in the stack 
is considered a good price for alfalfa hay. Considering these facts. 
the high value of hogs as a means of marketing alfalfa is clearly ap- 
parent. It required 2.75 pounds of corn for the first lot and 2.09 
pounds for the second lot for each pound of gain made. With al- 
falfa pasture valued at $15 per acre for the season ($5 for the first 
period and $10 for the second) and corn at $1.07 per hundredweight, 
each 100 pounds of gain in the first lot cost $3.25 and in the second 
lot $2.(31. or an average of $2.88 for the two lots. This emphasizes 
the value of alfalfa pasture as a hog feed. 
AVERAGE OF THEEE YEAES' RESULTS. 
Substantially the same methods were followed in 1914 and 1915 
as in 1913. as outlined above. Each year, fall-farrowed pigs were 
used in the first period and spring-farrowed pigs in the second 
period, except in 1911. when, because of losses from cholera, it was 
necessary to use fall pigs during the entire season. In 1915 there 
were two lots receiving the 2 per cent corn ration, so that during the 
three years there have been eight lots in all. four in each pasturing 
period. The results of the three years' tests with these eight lots 
are summarized in Table II. in which the data have been calculated 
to an acre basis. 
Table II. — Results obtained by feeding eight lots of pigs on alfalfa pasture, 
supplemented with approximately a 2 per cent corn ration, at the Seottsbluff 
Experiment Farm in 1913, 1914. and 1915. 
Items of comparison. 
First 
period. 
Second 
period. 
Number of lots averaged 
Total gain per acre pounds . . 
Corn fed .do 
Grain per pound of gain do 
Gain per 100 pounds of grain do 
Financial statement: 
Net returns per acre of pasture -?49. 70 
Cost per 100 pounds of gain (pasture at 815 per 3cre) 3. 36 
Equivalent paid for hay, per ton 22. 19 
4 
•4 
8 
1.271 ; 
1,910 
3,1S1 
3,671 
4. 173 
7.>44 
2. <> 
2. IS 
2.47 
34.7 
45.9 
40.5 
Entire 
season. 
SS9. 05 ! S13S. 75 
2.S6 3.11 
27. 13 25. 13 
