The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-10-11
Some Foods for Pork Making.

Some Foods for Pork-Aiaking.
At the Arkansas Experiment sta
ton experiments were made: (1) To
determine the adaptability of differ
ent crops in a rotation for hogs; (2l
to determine the cost of rearing ten
month pigs on food gathered by them
selves and grown on soil OF known
fertility; 60 to ascertain a system OF
rearing pigs for pork with a minimum
quantity of corn. The foods used were
rye pasture, red clover pasture, sorg-
hum pasture, sweet potatoes, Spanish
peanuts, alfalfa pasture, oat pasture,
cowpeas pasture and shel1ed corn. A
practical conclusion of the three OBJ,
jects of the experiment appears to be
attained.
l. Red clover, sorghum and peanuts
were the best adapted foods for 70.
tation. They are cheap and easy to
produce, and their seasons of matur-
ity are in convenient order for pigs
TO consume them. Roofing for the
peanuts was too slight to injure the
soil. There is no necessity for root
crops for feeding with these foods.
Sweet potatoes were unequal to the
peanuts in palatability and fat and
flesh formers. By this system of rear.
ing and fattening pigs the manure re-
mains scattered over the soil from
which the foods were eaten that pro-
duced it. This together with the fact
that clover and peanuts are soil i'm
provers is a great advantage.
@ The cost to produce a pound OF
pork with a pig from birth to 10
months Of age on red clover, sorghum
and peanuts, and 6 S-5 bushels OF
corn, and grown on soil that would
produce rs bushels of corn per acre,
was liz cents.
8. The rotation OF red clover, sorg
hum and peanuts is system that re-
quired 6 3-5 bushels of corn to pro-
duce hog weighing 243 pounds at
10 months old. Less corn could have
been fed in farm practice by keeping
the pigs two weeks longer on peanuts
in December, and feeding corn only
while the ground was frozen. Two
weeks feeding on corn would have
been sufficient to harden the pigs for
slaughter.
Remarks on the Experiment.-Th
gain on corn was little less than on
peanuts though the corn was fed less
than half the time the peanuts were
fed. The increase while feeding on
corn exclusively is not quite up to the
usual gains made while feeding on
that food. There is no room for doubt
that cooked meal would have been
better for this short period. The
weight of the pigs September Fl, at
the age of 6 months and Is days, is
less than it would be in farm lprac-
tice, because they had an insufflciency
of food when the clover was drying up
between July 5 and July 20. With
crimson clover for winter grazing the
brood SOW can be kept on green food
throughout the year with but very lit
tie grain. The pigs were required to
Craze the clover close, and to eat
sorghum clean SO that an estimate
could be made of the area used of each
crop. Sorghum could have been plant
ed ten days earlier, and that would
have relieyed the pigs from clover that
mach sooner. This would have caused
them to gain more during that time.
The peanuts were ready for the pigs
August Is. within about fifteen days
after beginning the feeding Of sorg-
hum, but they were not put on pea
nuts until thirty-six days thereafter
for reasons before stated.
On better soil than that used in the
experiment less area would have been
used OF each crop, and if lime had been
applied to peanuts their yield would
have been greatly increased. The fer
tility of the soil should be remembered
when considering the cost to rear the.
pigs, and the area of soil required
to produce the food The pigs were
in perfect health on each crop, thus
showing those crops to be entirely
suited to hogs. Grain was fed the
pigs until they were months old,
with the green food TO keep them in
health and in rapid growth. A pig
will return better profit for food con-
sumed prior to 10 months old than it
will after that age is passed.