In the preceding chapter it was stated that alfalfa is a valuable pasture or soiling crop for pigs. It is equally true that they will actually eat alfalfa hay. A hog is not usually ranked as a hay-eating animal but an exception must be made as to his eating alfalfa hay. As a pasture or soiling crop for sows and young pigs, alfalfa proves a wonderfully helpful ration for milk-making in the sow and for growth in the pigs. Experiments have shown that pigs make better growth when the dam is fed considerable alfalfa than those from sows fed the best of commercial rations, but with no alfalfa. Given two sets of pigs, one fed clover, rape and soaked corn and the other fed only alfalfa forage, the latter seemed to grow the more rapidly. For brood sows it is a most valuable food, either as hay, a soiling crop, or as pasture. The litters of such sows are generally large and vigorous and the dams have a strong flow of nutritious milk. Alfalfa meal in slop may be used with profit where the hay is not to be obtained. It is also claimed that sows fed on alfalfa during pregnancy will not devour their young, its mineral elements seeming to satisfy the appetite of the sow, while contributing to the fetal development of the pigs.

On a farm of Governor Hoard, in Wisconsin, all the brood sows have for several years been wintered on alfalfa hay of the third cutting, and their drink, without any grain until the last two weeks of gestation. Mr. Hoard says the object was to give the sows a food that should keep them in a non-feverish state and furnish protein sufficient to build the bodies of the forthcoming pigs. (Their “drink” was the skim milk from the dairy.)

“It was a matter of experiment at first, our only guide being what knowledge and reason we could exercise from what we knew, or thought we knew, of the philosophy of gestation. The experiment proved to be a success from the first. The sows went through their work in fine condition, giving milk abundantly. The pigs came with splendid vitality, thus reducing our losses from early death fully 30 per cent over what they had previously been. The hay is fed dry and is thrown into the pen on the feeding floor without any cutting or chaffing whatever. We have sometimes thought we would try the experiment of cutting it into half-inch lengths and moistening it. Possibly it would take less hay in this way. The sows keep in good flesh, fully as much so as we like.”

A Finney county, Kansas, farmer reports having pastured 30 pigs on one acre of alfalfa from May 1st to September 1st, when they weighed 100 pounds each and were in fine condition for fattening. Another Kansas farmer reports keeping 100 pigs from about the middle of April to September on five acres of alfalfa pasture. A little grain during the last two months would have gained him many pounds of pork. Many alfalfa raising pig-growers insist that their pigs can be maintained from May to October on alfalfa for one-half what it would cost for almost any other feed.

The Utah station found that young shoats gained one-third of a pound a day on alfalfa pasture without grain. But the station found also that the gain was not so great in older hogs. A Wisconsin dairyman reported that he kept nine sows all winter and spring on alfalfa hay and skim milk, without any grain, and raised from them 75 pigs, all healthy and vigorous.

The Colorado station considers that a ration of three-fourths corn and one-fourth alfalfa hay is the best for fattening hogs for market, but for young hogs not ready for fattening the proportions should be reversed. The station does not recommend grinding alfalfa hay for hogs, probably on the theory that the hog’s time is not worth much at best.

A VALUABLE FEEDING TEST

The Kansas station in the fall of 1898 made a series of experiments of interest to feeders everywhere. The test was to determine the value of alfalfa hay fed to fattening hogs that were receiving all the grain they would eat. The results are related here in the language of the bulletin:

“The hogs fed in this experiment were bought of farmers, and averaged in weight 125 pounds each. They were placed in lots of ten each, in large pens, having for shelter some sheds open to the south. The alfalfa hay used was of the best quality, carefully cured. Blackhulled White Kafir-corn was the grain used, the hogs being fed all they would eat without waste. The hay was fed dry in forkfuls in a large flat trough. The pigs were given more than they could eat, and they picked out the leaves and finer stems, rejecting the coarser stems. One lot of hogs was fed Kafir-corn meal dry and alfalfa hay; one lot whole Kafir-corn dry; one lot Kafir-corn meal dry, and one lot Kafir-corn meal wet.

“The experiment began on November 24 and lasted nine weeks. By that time the alfalfa-fed hogs became well fattened, and were marketed. We estimated that it would require four to five weeks additional feeding, with ordinary weather, to get the hogs that were fed grain alone into good marketable condition.

“The gain in nine weeks from the different methods of feeding were as follows:

“The gain from feeding alfalfa hay with Kafir-corn meal fed dry, over the meal alone fed dry, is more than 73 per cent.

“The gains per bushel of feed were as follows:

“Ten hogs in nine weeks were fed 656 pounds of alfalfa hay; and as shown above, for each 7.83 pounds of alfalfa hay fed with the dry Kafir-corn meal, the hogs gained 3.4 pounds over those having dry Kafir-corn meal alone—a gain of 868 pounds of pork per ton of alfalfa hay. These results are not due to the feeding value of the alfalfa alone, but also to its influence in aiding the hogs to better digest the Kafir-corn. The alfalfa hay also gave a variety to the ration, making it more appetizing and inducing the hogs to eat more grain. The ten hogs having grain alone ate 3885 pounds of dry Kafir-corn meal, while the ten hogs having hay and grain ate 4679 pounds of the Kafir-corn meal and 656 pounds of alfalfa hay. The hay-fed hogs ate more grain and gained more for each bushel eaten.

“In a former experiment pigs were pastured through the summer on alfalfa with a light feeding of corn. After deducting the probable gain from the corn, the gain per acre from the alfalfa pasture was 776 pounds of pork.

“These facts indicate that to produce pork most cheaply the Kansas farmer must have alfalfa pasture in summer and alfalfa hay in winter.”

The Kansas station also found in another test that one acre of alfalfa produced pork worth $20.30, while one acre of rape produced pork worth $10.05.

The Iowa station director estimated that one acre of alfalfa pastured was worth at least three acres of blue-grass for pigs. It is claimed by Kansas farmers that an average acre of alfalfa will pasture 15 pigs, while some report having pastured 20 or more pigs per acre. Those who have used alfalfa as a soiling crop for pigs admit, however, that one acre so utilized is equal to two if not three used as pasture.

It is argued by feeders that as many hogs may profitably be allowed with cattle that are being fattened on corn and alfalfa as when fed corn alone, as the feeders believe in cleaning out the feed-racks every few days and giving the left-over stems to the hogs. If necessary, a little corn is added to the hog ration.

A NEBRASKA TEST

The Nebraska experiment station, from a hog-feeding test made in 1903 reported the following:

“With the alfalfa hay worth $7 per ton, the leaves, containing 40 per cent more protein, would be worth approximately $10 per ton. The shorts cost $12.50 per ton delivered. The dairy department charged 15 cents per hundred for the skim milk used. Corn was delivered to the barns at 30 cents per bushel. Adding the usual rate of 6 cents per hundred for grinding, the corn meal cost $12 per ton. At these prices, each hundred pounds of gain in the several lots cost as follows:

“This experiment shows that at the market prices quoted and the proportions used in the experiment, skim milk will make corn bring four cents more per bushel, wheat shorts eight cents more, and alfalfa leaves nine cents more. Assuming that only five per cent of the 252,520,173 bushels of corn produced in Nebraska this year is being fed to hogs as a single food, these figures would go to show that $1,000,000 more wealth would be added to the state if wheat shorts or alfalfa were substituted for one-fifth of the corn fed.”

CUT ALFALFA EARLY FOR HOGS

It is especially important that alfalfa intended to be fed to hogs should be cut early. An experiment at the Kansas station showed that a ton of early cut and well-cured alfalfa, fed with grain, produced 868 pounds of pork while a ton late cut and poorly cured, fed with grain, produced only 333 pounds. For fattening hogs it is well to feed about one ton of well-cured alfalfa hay with each 250 bushels of grain.

Farmer’s Bulletin No. 215 of the United States Department of Agriculture declares that alfalfa is an ideal pasture plant for hogs. “There is no danger from bloat and with a limited number of hogs there is practically no injury to the alfalfa field. Vigorous alfalfa will support 15 to 25 head of pigs per acre. It is best to limit the number of pigs to that which will be insufficient to keep down an alfalfa field. Cuttings of hay may then be made at intervals and the growth thus rejuvenated. On the average pigs weighing 30 to 60 pounds in the spring will make a gain of about 100 pounds each during the season. Although pigs may be grown and fattened upon alfalfa alone, it is best to combine the alfalfa with some kind of a grain ration. Alfalfa by itself is too rich in protein to give a balanced ration. Where pigs are pastured upon alfalfa alone they may be prepared for the market by feeding for a few weeks upon corn. It is still better, however, to feed a third to a half of a ration of corn or other grain during the time of pasturing.”

The great mistake made by too many who attempt to pasture swine on alfalfa is in overstocking. There is a tendency to keep within a small pasture more stock than it can comfortably support, with the result that the stand is gnawed, trampled and rooted out, while the animals fail to prosper as they would under more rational treatment.

One of the most extensive and successful swine raisers in Kansas tells the author this: “Twenty-five years of pasturing hogs of all ages on alfalfa has proven conclusively to me that with a fourth to a half grain ration, while they are on such pasture, will produce in them a greater growth per day than when in dry lots on full feeds of corn. Hogs will maintain a reasonable growth, but not fatten much, on alfalfa pasture alone; I believe it profitable to feed them some grain while running on green alfalfa. If it is desired to full-feed hogs, they will make a rapid fattening growth by increasing the grain ration while on the pasture, and with the full grain ration the meat will be nearly as firm as those of the dry lot, where grain alone has been fed. I find no distinction on the market between alfalfa-fed swine and those purely grain-fed, and they sell price and price alike. The general health of the alfalfa-fed hogs is equal to that of those maintained on any other feed, and they are prolific.”

The Kansas station realized $11.90 per acre from rape pasture and $24.10 per acre from alfalfa pasture in ninety-eight days. These results were obtained from the following experiments, which were begun July 25 and concluded October 31.

Thirty shoats, averaging fifty-two pounds in weight, were divided as nearly equally as possible into three lots of ten each. Lot I was fed on a grain mixture of shorts one-half, corn meal one-fourth, and Kafir-corn meal one-fourth, in a dry lot. The other two lots were fed the same grain ration, but one received rape pasture and the other alfalfa pasture in addition. Each lot was given what grain the hogs would eat up clean, and each had access to water and ashes. The weights of grain consumed and gains made are as follows:

The gains of the three lots are very nearly equal. The dry lot consumed 557 pounds (or seventy pounds for every 100 pounds of gain) more grain than the pasture lots. The lot on rape required one acre of pasture, while the alfalfa lot used a trifle less than one-half acre.

The lot without pasture required 3.71 pounds of grain to produce one pound of gain. Assigning the same value to the grain fed the hogs on rape pasture, we have 877 pounds of pork credited to the grain and 199 pounds credited to the rape. At six cents per pound, the price at which hogs were selling at the close of the experiment, this would be a credit of $11.90 per acre for the rape. In a similar manner, the alfalfa is credited with 201 pounds of pork, equal to $12.05, and as there was only a half-acre of alfalfa, this makes a rate of $24.10 per acre.

The cost of preparing the seed bed and seeding the rape was $1.80 per acre. It was seeded in the feed lots, on soil that would otherwise have remained idle or would have grown up to weeds.

The shoats on pasture enjoyed their diet and seemed satisfied. Those in dry lot seemed to be hankering after something green, and their appetites seemed unsatisfied without some kind of roughness. They would even nibble at straw, in a vain attempt to satisfy their craving.

“The experiment,” says Prof. D. H. Otis, “emphasizes the superior value of alfalfa pasture. Where alfalfa is not available, or where variety is wanted, or it is desired to utilize otherwise waste land, Dwarf Essex rape, seeded at the rate of six to eight pounds per acre, any time from early spring to late summer, will furnish an excellent diet that is greatly relished by the hogs.”

J. E. Woodford, of Coffey county, Kansas, April 1, 1905, placed ten choice pure bred Poland-China brood sows from twelve to eighteen months old that were due to farrow in the latter days of June, on a five-acre field of alfalfa. They were given no other feed than the alfalfa pasturage until they had farrowed and their pigs were a week old. After that the sows had in addition to the alfalfa some bran slop until about August 20, when new corn was fit for feeding. He says: “The sows from the time they were turned on the alfalfa until the last week in June made a remarkable growth, besides gaining somewhat in flesh. They did well with their pigs, reared an average of seven to each sow, and as sucklers they were a sight to see. The pigs were the most attractive bunch ever raised in Coffey county, as admitted by our breeding competitors. We weighed a gilt from this lot when six months and five days old, and her weight of two hundred and twenty-five pounds was not above the average of the whole lot. In our lifelong experience in rearing swine we have found nothing of the grass kind for them that in value approaches alfalfa.”

A plat of thrifty, well-established alfalfa suitably fenced and used for pasturing swine of whatever age can scarcely fall short of being among the most profitable parts of any farm upon which swine husbandry is given attention.