Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-10-19
Green Food for s,Uine.

ProL S. r. Thompson, of the Ne
orasAa Agricultural College, speaks
ioNn experience on pork growing, in
I nc american Agricutturist:
ureen tool makes thr.ftier and LARGER
1ogS: Farmers who raise many pigs
thu Ieed them exclusively ON corn know
mat some of the shotes will cease to
grow at AN early age. begin to lay on
1t and never reach the Size of GOOD
nercnantable hogs. This tendency to
:atten prematurely, at the expense OF
ne Dohe growth, is not seen to any ex-
emu IN grass-fed hogs. A pig fed on
ouiKyIgreen food will develop larger
stomach tfran one fed on concentrated
:ood' like corn; and when YOU come to
;attcn 1t, this enlarged capacity will
'naoie him to eat and digest more corn
ana thus fatten faster than the other,
anu he a more profitable hog to grow
| ior market.
Grass-fed hogs are healthier than
hose granted. Every intelligent
breeder knows the advantages of feed
NC green food to sows about TO farrow.
They have less difficulty with their pigs,
are less liable to destroy them, will give
more milk and nurse them better.
irsS-fed hogs are less liable to disease.
The dreadful hog cholera is not much
20 be feared where hogs have the run of
good clover pasture. Undoubtedly,
1 exposed to cOntagion, they would
AXE the disease, but they are not likely
% develop it. For example, n farmer
had his hogs in small pen destitute OF
grass, with no water except muddy
pool, which soon was made as vile as
os,ible by the hogs. After awhile
he hogs began TO die in considerable
numbers, with symptoms resembling
cholera. The g, 'ner was alarmed, took
hem out of this pen. turned them on a
patch of green rye and gave them water
rom we'll The disease was checked
and the deaths ceased.
How may green food be most cheaply
provided? Rye is the crop best adapted
o this purpose, in the region west of
ihe Missouri. This should be sown
Early in the fall. on well-prepared soil,
md If the growing season continues late
n the fall, so that the rye is likely &c
Joint. it must be fed down closely. The
oest condition for it TO go into winter is
when it covers the ground with thick
mat of low leaves with but little tend
sncy to shoot. Rye in this condition is
Mt to turn on As soon as growth begins
in spring. the amount of feed which
Two acres of such rye will furnish is
surprising. If not fed down too close,
and the stock be turned off about the
middle of May or the first of June. the
rye will still make a fair crop. Hogs
are sometimes left on the rye until il
fills, when they will pull it down and
Eat the heads; but this practice is not
commended. This is time, after the
rye is a foot high until it is in milk, that
hogs do not eat it well. A better plan
is to have a field of clover or of clover
and timothy or orchard grass ready for
The pigs when the rye is too large to be
longer available. When the rye is get
ting too large, the clover is in the best
state to turn upon. The clover will dc
well until about the middle of June, when,
# the weather turns off hot and dry, il
grows quite slowly. 1t is well to have
patch of oats sown near and ready to
tide over this time. If not needed it
IAN grow for the harvest. During the
hot weather of July, August and Sep
TENDER none of the crops named above
IAN be fully relied on, and this is es-
pecially true where they have been fed
200 closely. Sorghum or brown dourra
may be sOwn broadcast about the last
Of May and again the middle of June,
% be used in July and August. Expert
ence shows that sorghum may be eaten
OFF close to the grown when foot TO
eighteen inches high, without serious in
jury. 1t will come up again and grow
right along. 1t is also an excellent plant
20 stand dry weather