“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: Lot 1, corn alone $4.48 Lot 2, corn and skim milk 3.97 Lot 3, corn and shorts 3.53 Lot 4, corn and alfalfa 3.40 “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.