The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-03-22
IRRIGATED
CROPS AS
HOGFOOD
Method of Disposinf Of
Farm Produce Found to
Yield Good Returns.

Washington. March 22.-That crops
grown on irrigated land can usually
be mose profitably marketed by feed
ing theirs TO hogs Is indicated by recent
experiments of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture. the results OF
which are now published as bulletin
No. 4SS. This publication. Expert
ments in the Disposal OF Irrigated
crops Through the Use Of Hogs. points
out that most of the irrigated projects
are so far from the large consuming
centers that the cost of transportation
makes the shipment of hay and grain
almost prohibitive. In proportion to
the prices that 1t brings. livestock Is
less expensive to transport than feed
stuffs. For this reason and because
of the additional fact that manure is
left upon the farm to enrich the soil,
the production of livestock is a most
desirable industry for irrigated farm
ing.
OF the various branches of this
industry. hog raising is in one import
ant respect the most attractive. With
a comparatively small amount of
initial capital a farmer can get well
started in the hog business in short
time. The necessary buildings are
comparatively cheap and 1t takes less
feed to produce a pound OF pork than
any other kind of meat raised on the
farm. The irrigation farmer who has
Erasped the significance of these facts
and wishes to enter the business needs
information on the value of alfalfa as
a hog pasture. the value of different
kinds and quantities of grain used to
supplement the alfalfa, and the
practicability Of hogging down corn.
1t was primarily to obtain data on
these points that the departments
experiments were conducted. The re-
suits are given in detail in the bulle-
tin already mentioned.
From these experiments it appears
that under conditions similar to those
which prevail on the North Platte irri-
cation project. where the work was
carried on, 1t Is much more profitable
to let hogs pasture alfalfa than to cut
the fields and sell the hay: and, sec
ondly. that alfalfa pasture can be
made to yield much more profitable
returns in pork when a or 8 per cent
ration of grain is fed the hogs as
supplement. On the North Platte irri-
cation project Sc a ton for alfalfa hay
in the stack is considered a good price.
This figure was adopted by the investi-
gators in their experiments. and they
fixed the value of corn at $1.07 a
hundredweight and of gains Of pork at
cents a. pound. The labor cost of
caring for the hogs was assumed to be
the same as that Of harvesting the hay
crop. '|
On this basis 1t was found that the
net return per acre ranged from $45.0S
when the hogs had nothing but alfalfa
to $16S,25 when they were fed in addi-
ton a 8 per cent ration of corn. The
rate Of grain and the carrying capacity
of the pasture increased with the
quantity of grain fed. AS a supple
ment it was found that ground barley
was approximately as efficient. pound
for pound. as shelled corn. ~
BY allowing the hogs to Craze the
alfalfa 1t was found that they return
ed in pork an equivalent of from $S.16
to $304S for each ton of hay that
would otherwise have been harvested
from the alfalfa fields. The lowest
figure. S8.16. is considerably higher
than the market prices for alfalfa hay,
and the highest figure. $30.4S, obtained
when the hogs received a 3 per cent
ration of corn. is obviously much more
than the farmer could hone to obtain
from any other method of disposing Of
his alfalfa crop.
The practice of hogging-down corn
proved to be much more profitable
when hogs had access to alfalfa pas
ments the average gain, without the
pasture. was placed at $52.08 per acre,
whereas with alfalfa pasture 1t rose to
$6510. Put in another way, 1t was
found that without supplementary
feed hogs paid $1.S4 per hundredweight
of corn and $1.65 when they had alfalfa
pasture as well. With the use Of tank
age instead of alfalfa, the return was
$3.50 per hundredweight of corn. It Is
evident, therefore. that the use of
either alfalfa or tankaRe with corn re-
suits in more rapid and cheaper gains
than when the hogs are turned into
the corn and receive no other feed.