South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-02-28
TESTS SHOW HOGS
THRIVE ON ALFALFA
AND SMALL GRAINS
BuSheI of Wheat Will Produce
Thirteen Pounds Gain in
Weight-Barley Makes High
Grade Meat.

Tho growing of swine and the pro-
duction of pork are industries that to-
day are claiming increasing attention
throughout the northwest. Expert
ments with grains which may take
the place Of corn for feeding purposes
are or the greatest interest To farm
crs iu this region. because the small
grains are often grown in abundance
and form the basis Of an ratiOns.
great amount OF wheat, barley and
rye SIS led in the form of mill pro-
ducts, and is OF course ground. In
common practice. also. these grains
arc ground more generally than corn,
as they are usually much harder The
greater liability OF these small grains
10 pass through the animal undigest--
ed shows the correctness Of such
practice.
Best Results With Wheat.
Chief among the small grains is
wheat, and IL appears % DE the food
best adapted for long-continued hog
feeding The adyisabiIity or feeding
depends upon market prices and eco
uOmiC conditions. To could hardly be
rcgarded as economical 20 use wheat
as stock feed at the high prices now
prevailing. A hushel of wheat prop
Crly fed To- reasonably well-bred hogs
pounds gain in weight The results
81 a number OF feeding tests show
that there ls comparatively little dlt-
ference ina feeding value between
wheat and corn for swine
I'm comparing various ratiOus In
which corn, wheat. and rye were fed
alone or i'm combination with each
other it was found that dry. ground
wheat gave the greatest returns and
required the least amount of grain to
make 100 pounds of gain. Wheat
should bc ground and mixed with
some supplement such as tankage,
peas, or soy-bcau meal. The results
obtained from a number of tests have
proved th,s 20 bc a good practice
Barley Produces Best Pork.
I'm Great Britain and northern
Europe barley takes the place of corn
for pork production. leading all grains
bon producing pork of fine quality
both as 10 hardT ess and flavor. Con
siderable study IN the United states
has beer made of the value of barley
as pig feed. and the results have
shown that IL compares very faVOTa-
bly, with corn, but has a feeding value
someW hat below that of wheat. What
this grain may lack i'm feeding value
however, IL more than supplies i'm its
effect on the carcass. AS high grade
pig feed 10 far surpasses any other
grain. and this fact makes possible
the production of pork of the first
quality in regions where barley is
produced abundautly. Ground or
rolled barley is best fed i'm combina-
ton with wheat middlings skim milk
roots, alfalfa etc.
Value OF Rye
Rye meal ranks little below corn
and about equal TO barley meal as "a
feed for swine. Rye produces salts
factory pork. especially when it is fed
with other grains. It is am extremely
heavy, concentrated feed and Will
usually give best resUltsI when fed
not 10 exceed one-third of a ration.
In many sections rye is much es-
tecmed as pasture especially where
the soils are rather light and i'm such
Instances 'hosging off, proves profit
able.
Alfalfa Pasture and Hay.
Since economical pork production
depends largely upon the consump-
ton of a great deal of che8plv grown
feed the pasture should be managed
SO that The forage produced Will be
clean. tender and palatable Many
successful hog raisers prefer To use
such crops as alfalfa and clover for
both pasture and hay at the same
time. The number of boss generally
turned into a field Is So limited that
the usual crops OF hay are made.