Show ALFALFA AS A FOOD FOR SWINE by E R W dark clark prof of animal industry A C of af utah during th the e summer of 1905 an e experiment peri ment consisting of days was carried out at the agricultural college to determine the value of growing alfalfa for pigs the pigs were farrowed furrowed far rowed in march and april were ten weeks old and weighed about fifty pounds each when weaned and turned on the alfalfa there were twenty four of them on one acre and they were a choice lot of grade and pure bred Tam poland chinas cainas and yorkshires York shires in the ibe early part of the season immediately after weaning their food aside from pasture consisted of five parts of ni skim milk to one of shorts later in the season the proportion was reduced to one and two parts of skim milk to one 0 of shorts and finally the skim milk was dropped from the ration they were provided with plenty of shade and good water and care was taken to keep thom always on good pasture by moving them about these pigs received very little of the first crop of alfalfa as they were not put upon it until the forepart of june the first crop was largely grazed by the older swine on the second and third crops of this acre with skim milk and shorts as indicated abbie a net gain was made of 2506 pounds in addition to the pasture one pound of grain required 24 pounds of shorts and 52 pounds of skim milk shorts worth i 16 a ton and skim milk 15 cents per hundred pounds one pound of grain exclusive of pasture would cost 27 cents in making 2306 2506 pounds of grain pounds of skim milk and 3 pounds of shorts were consumed in addition I 1 to the pasture the gain per pig per day was 34 pounds larger gains would have been secured had more grain and milk been given but the idea was to restrict the grain and milk ration in order to get a larger consumption of alfalfa whenever the hand feeding was liberal they took less of the pasture the tamworth pigs proved to be especially adapted tor for grazing not the faett hat they were the t be youngest of the bunch they made tar far the cheapest and largest dally daily gains the writer believes the tamworth to be the ideal hog for profit tor for sections were grazing r is plentiful and grain foods high price the greatest profit Is secured by giving the pigs a good start and by having pasture a part of the ration grain food should be reduced to a minimum but not at the expense of steady growth swine especially growing pigs will not do much on alfalfa as a single food some grain or grain and skim milk should be added alfalfa Is not a fattening food its principle use is in the formation of bone and muscle mature hos bogs fed on growing alfalfa or on well cured alfalfa hay will only sustain their weights for fattening grain is needed I 1 |