Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-12-01
Pasture for Hogs.

A recent bulletin of the Missouri
state board of agriculture gives re
port of investigation of the best for
age crops used for hog pasture III
that state. A list of questions was
addressed to about 500 representative
i hog growers of the state and 204 re
plies were received. AS well-estab-
lished practice among the best farm
ers is usually correct, the results
may be generally followed as the best
practice. The summary of facts
brought out in these letters indicate
the following: Bluegrass is very gen.
orally used, especially in the north
ern and central sections. It's popular
ity is due to it's hardness and the fact
that a pasture of this grass is very
seldom killed by pasturing. It comes
early in spring and lasts until late in
the fall and will, if not heavily pas
tured in fall, furnish very good win
ter pasture. 1t has to be supple
mented, with some other pasture,
however, during the hot weather OF
summer. White clover grows well
with bluegrass, thus adding to its
value as a pasture grass for hogs.
Timothy is not as generally used.
It does not come as early in spring
and does not stay as late in fall.
White clover does not grow up in it,
If cut early, timothy does not have
as long resting period in summer
4 t>,,f
to keep from getting too woody for
good pasture, it is comparatively
short lived. When on bluegrass OIL
timothy pasture young hogs do not
receive the proper food nutrients to
balance properly a ration of corn
alone. For hogs under six months OF
age, to i've the best returns on pas
ture of this kind, they should receive
in addition to their corn, a limited
amount of some kind of heterogeneous
feed, such as shorts, linseed oil meal,
tankage, etc. Hogs more than six
months old make less rapid gains
when fed corn alone than when fed
corn and a supplement, in connection
with bluegrass Or timothy, but the
gains made from the former ration
are usually as cheap as from the
latter.
Glover is the most generally used
hog pasture in the state It furnish
es the food nutrients lacking in corn,
and fits well into a rotation where
corn is the principal crop 1t is killed
by too heavy pasturing, and is also
often winter killed 1t makes the
best pasture for hogs when heading
or blooming If allowed to rlpen IL
becomes woody, and is not relished
to make a new growth. Alfalfa fur
nishes a forage fully equal to clover
and in greater qualities. 1t cannot
be pastured very close without in
jury, but should be allowed to make
about two crops of hay each season.
Hogs on clover or alfalfa pasture
will sometimes make satisfactory
gain with no grain feed, but it usu
ally takes a small feed of grain to
secure the best results. After the
pigs have started well after weaving
time, a ration of corn alone, in con-
nection with clover or alfalfa pas
ture usually gives the most proffta-
bic gain. The rapidity of gains made
on corn alone can be increased by
adding small amount of shorts, lin
seed oil meal, tankage, ETC., to the
corn but the cost of gains, with feed
at PRESENT prices, will be little az
fected
Cowpeas are the cheapest form of
homegrown protein to use for feed
ing with corn. They can be grown
and pastured with hogs, Hogs can
be made to gain two or more pounds
daily head with ration of corn fed
on cowpea pasture. Rape is very val
liable for furnishing forage at times
whel, clover or pasture is short, or
has been badly injured. It can be
sown to furnish pasture at almost
any time during the growing sea-
son. The pasture is of about the
same value as clover, and best re
suits are obtained from the same
! grain ration as is used with clover.
Oats. or a mixture of rape and oats,
make an excellent early summer pas
ture. They should be pastured from
| the time they are three to six inches
| high until the heads begin forming,
and again when the seed is in the
dough. When on oats, hogs should
be fed some kind of heterogeneous sup
plement with corn, but not in such
large quantities as when they are on
bluegrass or timothy pasture.
Sorghum makes a good pasture
during drouth or hot weather, but Is
| not particularly relished by hogs. It
lis best to pasture when about ~ to
| two feet high. 1t can also be used
when heading. Hogs on sorghum
also require some supplement with
/ oorr p,,yonLipc holm tn MT the hogs