One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 66

Horse Beans.

Are "horse beans" a leguminous crop and how does their feeding value for hogs compare to cowpeas and Canadian field peas?

They surely are legumes, and they resemble so closely in composition the other legumes which you mention that their feeding value would be practically the same.

Storing Stock Beets.

What is the best method of storing stock beets and stock carrots in this climate? We can let them remain in the ground and grow until February or March and would like to preserve them for feeding as long as possible.

Stock beets and carrots can be stored in California without recourse to covering with ground or use of a cellar. They keep very well during the winter if piled under cover in such a way as to keep cool and dry.

Kale for Cow Feed.

What is kale worth for cow feed as compared with alfalfa, also can it be cut and cured the same as alfalfa and what variety is the best?

Kale is very similar to cabbage in growth, and for feeding purposes. For cow feed it would have about three-fourths the amount of digestible nutrients as green alfalfa, but would have an added value on account of its succulency. It would go especially well with alfalfa hay. The Jersey or Thousand-Headed kale is considered the standard for stock or poultry feed. It is always fed fresh and is not made into hay.

What Kind of Beet for Stock?

Which would be most valuable to plant on river-bottom land for cattle and hog feed, sugar beets or mangels?

Grow a large stock of beet by all means - either a mangel or a tankard.

Usually you will get more weight than with sugar beets; the cost of harvesting is far less, and the nutritive contents high enough.

Keeping Pumpkins.

What is the best way of storing pumpkins, under ordinary farm conditions, in a climate such as we have here in northern California? I have no facilities for cold storage.

All you have to do in this climate to keep pumpkins is to keep them out of reach of the stock. They do not need storage of any kind, but will keep in good condition during the late autumn and winter months in any open-air place where they may be convenient for feeding purposes. In parts of California where there is hard ground freezing, protection must be given by covering with boards or straw or any other material available. We have no need for root cellars or cold storage, for our winter temperatures are neither high nor low enough to hurt them.

Grape Pomace as Hog Feed.

What is the value of grape pomace as a hog feed?

It has been sold for 50 cents a ton as it comes from the press at the winery and when a person has not got any surplus of other feeds, it is evidently worth that and then some. The only way to feed it is to put it up in a big pile and let the hogs take it as they want it. It will help keep them growing through the winter provided they have other feed with it that might not be sufficient without the pomace.

Proper Feeding of Young Pigs.

If I put two 50-pound shoats to an acre of barley that will yield 10 or 12 sacks of grain, how many months could they be kept there to advantage, and what gain could I expect them to make in that time?

If the pigs have been properly fed and were of good stock, they should have attained a weight of 50 pounds at three or four months of age. Pigs in this condition would be more likely to lose than gain turned on a dry barley field, even if the yield were double what you state. Barley is an excellent fattener for mature hogs, but is a poor food for young growing pigs. Young pigs should have a balanced ration, which may be defined as a little of almost all kinds of feed and not all of any one kind. We have pigs running on a barley field such as you describe, and in addition to the barley we feed them once a day a slop composed of wheat middling and bran in equal parts by measurement, to which we add about 8 per cent tankage, and they seem to be moving along nicely. Without the slop we don't think they would hold their own. - Chas. Goodman.

Pie-melons and Pigs.

I have 14 sows which were fed almost entirely on pie-melons and milk, not much of the latter. Out of the 14, only 3 sows have saved any pigs; the rest lost all the young they had. Four or five sows that for the last three weeks have had no melons, nothing but green gra.s.s and a little whole barley each day, are saving their pigs all right.

Pie-melons are poor feed and pigs which are not given anything better ought to fail. "Green gra.s.s and a little whole barley" is much better feed than pie-melons. Pie-melons are useful fed with alfalfa hay or some richer food.

Wheat or Barley for Hogs.

Which would be the better grain for me to buy for hog feed; wheat at $1.30 per hundred, or barley at $1? Would it be worth paying 10 cents a hundred for rolling, and then haul the grain 8 miles by wagon?

Wheat is only considered about 10 per cent more valuable as a hog feed than barley, so that in your case, barley at $1 is the cheaper. In Bulletin 80 of the Oregon Station it was found that crushed wheat was 29 per cent more efficient than the whole grain, and it is safe to say that barley will run about the same, enough so at any rate to pay the extra 10 cents a hundred for crus.h.i.+ng and the hauling.

Grain and Pasture for Pigs.

What is the most profitable amount of grain to feed to spring pigs while on alfalfa pasture, from the time of weaning to the time of marketing?