1911. 
RAPE AS A PASTURE FOR SHEEP AND 
HOGS. 
I am asked the following questions 
regarding the growing of rape for pas¬ 
ture for sheep and hogs, and as these 
questions came from all sections of the 
country it was deemed best to corre¬ 
spond with the different experiment sta¬ 
tions and others so that more light might 
be given on the subject. With rape as 
with everything elso so much depends 
on conditions of weather, soil, moisture 
and other conditions that everyone must 
try a piece and then for another year he 
will know what best suits his conditions. 
First, time to sow. Rape is quite 
hardy and will stand lots of freezing, 
and there is no danger of sowing too 
early on this account, but as the plant 
requires heat to make it grow it seems 
that a good plan would be to set the time 
of sowing at corn-planting time, then it 
will make a quick, thrifty growth. If I 
were going to sow a large quantity it 
might be well to sow part at this time 
and part later, but before the Spring 
rains are gone. Rape sown in this sec¬ 
tion as late as August, as some advise, 
would be a total failure unless we were 
favored with an abundance of rain or 
it were sown on rich bottom land. 
How is it sown? When fertilizer is 
sown on the land with rape the seed can 
be sown the same as anyone would sow 
clover seed. Rape seed is about twice 
the size of clover seed, and one would 
want to set the seeder accordingly; 
weigh a part of the seed and measure 
the land it would sow. As it requires 
only six to eight pounds to the acre 
care should be taken to get it evenly 
sown. There are a number of broadcast 
seeders, like the Cahoon, Climax and 
the wheelbarrow seeders that can all be 
set to sow rape without any trouble. 
Where will it grow? As rape belongs 
to the cabbage family, or rather they 
both belong to the same family, it seems 
safe to say that where one will grow 
the other should. Reports from every 
section of the country seem favorable. 
Wisconsin, Ohio, Maryland, Maine, 
Michigan and even the States farther 
west report good success. 
Is it better to sow anything with it? 
In this section no; it is worth enough 
to give it the full benefit of the whole 
ground. In some sections of the West 
they sow the seed in the corn at the 
last cultivation, and it makes fine feed 
in the Fall for sheep and hogs. It is 
also sown with oats and barley, but in 
good growing seasons it interferes with 
harvesting the crops. 
Will one sowing last all Summer? It 
will unless it is pastured so close that 
it is all eaten off. 
Does it sprout out again after being 
eaten off? It does unless it is eaten 
clear down to the stump. Rape, like 
everything else, must have a few leaves 
left. 
Does it live over Winter? Not in the 
northern part of the country. Rape is 
a biennial, requiring two years to ma¬ 
ture seed. This applies to the Dwarf 
Essex and Victoria, claimed by some to 
be the same thing. There are kinds that 
mature their seed during the first year, 
being annuals; these are of no use for 
forage crops. 
If planting for several hundred hogs, 
would you sow all at one time or not? 
In the first place I should not sow 
enough for several hundred hogs unless 
I had had some experience raising cab¬ 
bage, turnips or some knowledge of the 
suitability of my land and the section 
for the proper growing of rape. It is 
too much of a risk to get so many hogs 
on hand as a trial trip. I should start 
on a smaller scale and work up. If I 
were going to sow that amount it would 
be better to make several sowings. 
Would you sow all at the same time 
and divide the field and alternate the 
sides? That plan is always advocated 
as to dividing a pasture, but for the life 
°* I cannot see the reason. 
Will it grow year after year, or must 
we sow every year? It must be sown 
every year. 
Where buy seed? Any reliable seed 
grower can supply the seed. Care 
* a k en to secure the right kind, 
the Dwarf Essex seems to be the best 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
for fodder purposes. The best seed 
comes from Essex, England, and one 
seed firm writes me that in five years 
their sales have increased from 100 
pounds to over 178,000 pounds. 
Cost of seed. Seed costs, in small 
quantities, from eight to 10 cents per 
pound. 
When can the hogs be turned on to 
the rape? The only thing to look out 
for in this direction is to see that the 
rape gets large enough to keep ahead of 
the hogs. If you have lots of rape and 
only a few hogs you could turn sooner 
than you could if you had lots of hogs 
and only a little rape. 
Were the hogs you reported on fed 
any milk after being turned on to the 
rape? No; we feed our milk to calves. 
The hogs _ had dish-water and clear 
water to drink. If the pasture had run¬ 
ning water it would be sufficient. 
How soon can it be turned on to? 
With plenty of moisture and good fer¬ 
tile soil it will take about five or six 
weeks to get large enough. 
How old were the pigs when weaned? 
About five weeks. 
How much seed to the acre? If sown 
broadcast about six pounds. Some 
recommend sowing in drills 30 inches 
apart and then cultivating. This takes 
about three pounds to the acre. 
How many hogs will an acre pasture? 
As stated in the article in the issue of 
December 31, one man reported that he 
could pasture 40 hogs on his one acre. 
At the^ Wisconsin Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station a test was made as to the 
value of rape for hogs. In this experi¬ 
ment 30 hogs had the run of one-third 
of an acre for 76 days. These hogs were 
eight months old when turned into the 
rape. They consumed 3,962 pounds less 
grain than the same number that were 
kept in pens, and made four pounds 
more gain. Others estimate the value 
of an acre of good rape equal to nearly 
1>2 tons of cornmeal and middlings. The 
only way to settle this question is for 
every man to see for himself what it 
will do under his conditions for rais¬ 
ing it. . 
What kind of fertilizer does it re¬ 
quire? There is nothing as good as 
well-rotted manure worked into the 
land; if this is not available an applica¬ 
tion of 400 pounds of a fertilizer an¬ 
alyzing 4-8-10 should produce a good 
crop. 
. Do you cultivate it? Not in this sec¬ 
tion, but I am told that in the West 
they sow in drills about 30 inches apart 
and cultivate it. 
Will it make pasture for sheep after 
the hogs are taken off in the Fall? 
\Y hile sheep will eat it any time they 
can get at it, it is liable to cause 
trouble with the digestive organs after 
it has been frosted. Our sheep have 
run on our patch all Winter and have 
left the best clover hay to get at the 
stubs of rape that were left. 
Will rape cause hogs to bloat? 
There is no danger to hogs from bloat, 
but there seems to be with sheep and 
cattle. The same care should be taken 
as anyone would take in turning into 
clover. 
Is rape as good as Alfalfa? Both 
are needed; Alfalfa starts the first thing 
in the Spring and can be pastured long 
before rape is ready. Alfalfa will last 
for two years and rape must be sown 
every year. 
Should the hogs have rings in their 
nose? Yes, for Alfalfa as well as rape. 
Were the pigs fed any grain while on 
the rape? They were fed no grain un¬ 
til about three weeks before, we wanted 
to sell them. They had some middlings 
in the Spring while waiting for the rape. 
Would home-grown corn do in place 
of barley and middlings? Hogs will 
not grow as well if fed corn alone. An 
ideal plan would be to feed some mid¬ 
dlings with the rape until the hogs are 
nearly grown, or until you want to dis¬ 
pose of them, and for a few weeks give 
them all the corn they will eat. 
How large a piece for 12 hogs? That 
is hard to say. Two years ago I visited 
a jnan who had six hogs on about one- 
third of an acre and had lots of rape 
left, so he figured that an acre would 
keep at least 30 ; and last year he tried it 
that way and failed because he had the 
rape on land that was not suited to it. 
How long after Alfalfa is sown can it 
be turned on to? It should not be 
pastured the first season. One man 
writes me that he can see visions and 
dream dreams, and well he may, for 
when he gets the run of rape and Alfalfa 
he will produce pork and mutton much 
cheaper than we have ever dreamed of. 
There seems to be no limit to the yield 
of rape. The Wisconsin Experiment 
Station used a piece for soiling and cut 
it four times in the season, securing 
over 36 tons to the acre. c. i. hunt. 
Livingston Co., N. Y. 
3 71 
I’ifcA -' 
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