Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-03-03


In the fall of 1898 the Kansas Expert
ment Station made an experiment to
test the value of alfalfa hay when fed
daily to fattening hogs that were being
given all the grain they would eat.
The gain greatly exceeded our ex-
pectations, and if further experiments
show the same results, alfalfa hay will
form regular part of the rations of
every well-fed pig fattened in Kansas
in the winter.
The hogs fed in this experiment were
bought of farmers, and averaged in
weight I25 pounds each. They were
placed in lots of ten each, in large pens,
having for shelter some sheds open to
the south. The alfalfa hay used was
of the best quality, carefully cured.
Blackhulfsd White Kaffir corn was the
grain used, the hogs being fed all that
they would eat without waste. The
hay was fed dry in forkfuls in large
fat trough. The pigs were gwen more
than they would eat, and they picked
out the leaves and finer stems, reject
ing the coarser stems. One lot of hogs
was fed Kafir corn meal dry and
alfalfa hay; one lot whole Kaffir corn
dry; one lot Kaffir corn meal dry; and
one lot Kaffir corn meal wet.
The experiment began on November
"a and lasted nine weeks. By that
time the allalfa-fed hogs became we'll
fattened, and were marketed. We
estimated that it would require four to
FIVE weeks additional feeding, with
ordinary winter weather, to get the
hogs that were fed grain alone into
good marketable condition. The re-
cent continued extreme cold weather
will make the time required consider
ably longer.
The gains in nine weeks from the
different methods of feeding were as
follows:
Gain per hog
| in pounds.
Kafir meal dry and alfalfa hay. 80
Kaffir corn whole ......... ................59
Katir corn meal fed dry ................... % 4
| Kaffr corn meal fed wet. I'D. 8
The gain from feeding alfalfa hay
with Kafir corn meal fed dry, over the
meal alone fed dry, is more than 70
per cent.
The gains per bushel of feed were as
follows:
| Pounds.
Kafir corn meal dry and Z, 80 pounds alfalfa - 90
| Kafir corn meal fed dry ........ .......7 4S
| Kafir corn meal fed wet. ........--.--- % w
Ten hogs in nine weeks were fed $50
pounds of alfalfa hay; and as shown
above, for each 7-Ss pounds of alfalfa
hay fed with the dry Kaffir corn meal.
the hogs gained 3.4 pounds oyer those
having dry Kafir corn meal alone-a
gain of sos pounds of pork per ton of
alfalfa hay. These results are not due
to the feeding value of che alfalfa alone
but also to its influence in aiding the
hogs to better digest the Kafir corn.
The alfalfa hay also gave variety to
the ration, making it more appetizing
and inducing the hogs to eat more
grain. The ten hogs having grain
alone ate 1885 pounds of dry Kafhr
corn meal and 626 pounds alfalfa hay.
The hay-fed hogs ate more grain and
gained more for each bushel eaten.
In former experiment at this College
pigs were pastured through the summer
on alfalfa with light feeding of corn.
After deducting the probable gain from
the corn, the gain per acre from the al
falfa pasture was ITO pounds of pork.
| These facts indicate that to produce
pork most cheaply the Kansas farmer
must have alfalfa pasture in summer
and alfalfa hay in winter.-Kansas
Experiment Station.