The Columbus journal., 1895-06-26

clover for Fatte.isg Hsts..
! 10 the Farmers' Review: have
jn0t been reading IN drticle. In your
issue Of May I, on summer feeding Of
hogs, that seems to me to be q little
misleading. What il said about the
advantages Of feeding in mild'weather
and that the most profit comes from
hog feeding when they are given e1l
they will consume, and all OF that u
undoubtedly true. But that they Will
get very much benefit from pasture
grass when fed grain to the extent rec
ommended It seems to me to be quite
doubtful Indeed. my experience has
been that when hogs are fed about all
the grain they will eat. they will eat
but very little grass Of any kind. OF
course they will eat some, for hogs.
like all other animals. like ? variety OF
food, but they will eat most Of what
they like best, and that Is the grain.
What grass they will eat when fed all
the grain they want will be beneficial;
! It will stimulate the appetite and aid
their digestion. but they won't eat
) enough Of the grass to add much to
their weight from it.
Ny experience has been that to get
the most growth on hogs from grazing,
they should be fed little grain once a
day, fed at night and as nearly as pos
sible at the same hour. They soon come
to look for their grain feed only at the
regular time and will not hang around
waiting for it at any other time. l am
aware that good many hog raisers
claim that hogs will do better on grass
not to be fed any grain. Il mean when
, grass Is to be the main feed) But that
has not been my experience. / think
they will do much better if fed little
dry corn with the grass.
l wonder how many hog growers will
fndorse my statement that more growth
can be made on hogs (of the right kind
on an acre Of clover than can be from
one acre of corn?
Prof Sanb0rn, formerly Of the Agrl-
cultural College of Kansas. claims to
have made 500 pounds of pork from one
acre of clover. l have never made ;s
much as that, but have made 6O0'
pounds and that is more than the aver
age feeder will make from an acre OF
corn. I am talking now about good
growth Of clover and good crop OF
corn: so bushels of shelled corn to the
acre is a good crop, and the average
feeder won't make over ten pounds OF
pork to the bushel of corn. Possibly
there are some that would make more
, than 10 pounds, but there are a good
many more that would make less, 50
that the clover is ahead at my figures.
have all of the years planned to have
q clover field for my hogs to run In
and have always thought l got good
pay. but ] never have but once known
just what was doing.
In the spring of 1855 bought SO
shoats that averaged 100 pounds.
tucned them into an eight-acre clover
field about the LIST of May as soon as the
c.J.er was up. SO that they could get a
god bite. And l want to say just here
tha: l think a good many make the
mistake of letting the clover get too
large before they turn onto it. Turn
in az soon as it gets fairly started and
then il it is fairly growing season
the clover will be likely to outgrOw the
hogs. l kept those hogs in that field
of clover and sold them the 18th day
of September, and their average weight
was 225 pounds.
They we're fed in addition to the
clover one pound Of shelled corn to tho
hog per day (by weight). They had
free access to salt and wood ashes lin
equal parts). mixed, kept in a trough
under shed so it would not waste by
the rain. They had good clean water
when they wanted it. An automatic ar
fangement kept their trough full, with
Stats across the top so that they could
not get into it and foul it. That was all
the feed they got and as before stated
they gained 125 pounds. The 25 pounds
fully paid for the corn they were fed,
leaving 100 pounds to the credit of the
clover The clover was the common
medium red. II l was going to seed q
field for hog pasture to-day should
mix the seed equal parts medium red
and alsike 1t will make q more dur
able pasture and makes variety, which
the hogs like. One thing more: Sue
cess often comes from attention to lit
tie things The corn fed these hogs
was not put in a trough or in pile so
they could gobble a mOuthful Of it and
swallow it whole, but it was scattered
SO they had to pick it up slowly and SO
of course they would chew it much bet
ter and get good deal more II ON it. l
see that have said above that to get
the most out of clover for pOrk-mak-
ing one must have the right kind of
hogs do not mean by that any par
ticular breed, but hogs Of suitable age,
and by the way this is one item on the
wrong side of the ledger when we come !
to strike the balance on clOycr-grown
pork Shoats must be five or six
months old. before they will do their |
hest on clover. And this means winter
ing them, which. as a rule, l do not con- |
slider profitable. I have for good I
many years wintered only my breeding !
stock bought the 81 in the expert |
ment reported. l have made the Iacst !
money when fed my hogs so that they |
were ready for the market at FROM five |
to eight months old. 5. Favill.
Wisconsin.
Value of Mixed Feeds.-The wise
dairyman will always strive to furnish
a variety of feed to his COWS. Further
than that he will also strive to have /
each kind Of food cut and cured in its |
most palatable state. for he knows that |
to have the food palatabie-'taste well"
lis very profitable feature to him.
There is something little strange
about the value Of mixed feeds. For
instance, when fed to pigs of 100 to 125
pounds weight, a bushel Of shel!ed corn
will produce ten pounds of gain. and
100 pounds of sKiE-milk will produce
five pounds of gain. That means that
when fed separately the two feeds will
produce fifteen pounds of growth. Now
mix the two feeds, the corn meal and
the sweet skim-milk. and they will
produce eighteen pounds of gain. Such
at least has been the result of repeated
Hog Pasture-Frof. Henry. Of the
Wisconsin station. is credited with the
following: 1t is not advisable to SOW
white clover alone on land for hog pas
lure, but amixture of several grasseS.
such as two bushels of blue grass, one