The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1912-07-18
FORAGE CROPS MAKE
Bis PROFITS IN PORK
SAVE THIRTY PER CENT OF THE
GRAIN FEED.
L. A. Weaver. University Of Missouri
College CT Agriculture.

Owing TO The high price of grains
alone is HOT ue,.Tly so profitable as ii
once was. Ii takes five or six pounds
OF corn in dry lot feeding to make /,
pound OF pork. With corn worth
around thirty cents a bushel and hogs
selling 1T five vr six cents, it was pos
sibie to make money feeding in the
dry lot. W.len corn is worth around
sixty cents and pork is selling at six
it is readily seen hat the profits from
feeding hogs are materially reduced
unless Il cheaper way of producing
pork is found
Results Ot Investigations at the Mis-
souri, Experiment Station indicate
clearly thar pork can be produced
most cteaIiy ly ieedins grain in com
biuaciou with forage.
The Kind OF 2.a:n depends. Of course,
upon the forage crop. In the work
done AT this Alton, in general, when
the forage MAS 4 leeume, such as al
talta, clover, COwpeas or soy beans,
straight corn was the grain fed. With
non-lesuul.u@9> foragrs. such as blue
grass. RAPE and oats, sorghum or rye,
the corn w.s> Supplements with lin
seed oil u.eal. The ration being made
up of six paris corn TO one part OF oil
meal.
While the KIM! Of grain to feed is
important. rfra amount of grain is of
equal. ii iloE greater Importance in de-
terminiug the economy of grains. 1t
has been shown at different stations
that the best forage crops are little
more than maintenance ration.
Ii gains are to be made. then, it is
necessary 10 feed some grain in addi-
ton TO the forage. Experiments indi-
cate that the greatest economy of gain
through the use of forage is obtained
when one and one-half to two pounds
of grain are xed daily for each 100
pounds ot live weight The best gen
eral rule is 10 feed enough grain to
cause the hogs 10 make daily gain
of three fourths of pound for each
100 pounds live weight.
Where alfalfa can be grown success
fully there is probably no crop that
will give better results for swine feed
ing An acre of alfalfa will pasture,
during the grazing season, from ten to
twenty shoats. The important point
to be observed is not to pasture too
closely Best results are obtained by
SO pasturing that one or two cuttings
of hay may be taken off the field dur
ing the season in addition to the
amount foraged off by hogs. At this
station. with half feed of grain, alfalfa
was found to carry IL head for 1913
days.
While it took FIVE or six pounds of
grain to the pound of gain, in dry lot
only 4 trifle over three pounds
was required when the hogs ran on
alfalfa.
Red clover ranks next to alfalfa as
4 forage crop for swine. 1t will not
carry SO many head per acre, nor fur
nish pasture for so long period as
will the alfalfa. In two different trials
t was found tina, the value of an acre
if clover for hog feed is more than
.hirty-four dollars. Care should be
aiken with clover not to pasture it too
closely. and to let it reach a height of
EN- to twelve inches before turning
INTO it.
The best results with annual forage
;rops at this station have been OBJ
aimed with rape in which have been
own q few oats. The Dwarf Essex is
he variety of rape used. If it is not
too closely it will come up
gain after the first growth, in favor
bile seasons. The data in this series
4 experiments with rape showed that
n acre of 1t is worth s22.S4 for pork
making. At the Wisconsin station
letter results were obtained with it,
even the clover.
Bluegrass requires the feeding of I
more grain than do these other crops,
nd it is only available in the early .
ummer ard after the fall rains. In /
lumber of trials at the Missouri sta .
ion the average return was found to
e x15.1S per acre.
In general the amount Of grain re-
uired to make pound of pork in the
~ lot was 5.11 pounds, and the
required on forage was 3.49
ounds. Thus there is q saving of
bout thirty per cent of the grain
'hich ia replaced by the cheaper for
&c. i