Minutes 

 120 



100 

 80 

 60 

 40 



20 



% 



i 



i 



z 



i 



MANGER 

 CLEANING 



PREPARATION 



12 3 4 5 

 Form Number 



Fig. 13. Man minutes spent on daily 

 feeding chores on five farms 

 in 1948, adjusted to 40 cows. 

 The data indicate the pro- 

 portionate time spent on 

 preparation of feeds, actual- 

 ly distributing feeds, clean- 

 ing mangers, and miscellan- 

 eous work. Note particular- 

 ly the large amount of time 

 used in preparation. 



Feed Combinations Vary 



The wide differences in feed com- 

 binations are illustrated in the fol- 

 lowing rations: 



1. High hay ration, 20# hay, 15# 

 silage, and 10# grain 



2. Medium hay ration, 15# hay, 

 30# silage, and 10# grain 



3. Low hay ration, 10# hay, 45# 

 silage, and 10# grain 



4. No silage ration, 25# hay, 0# 

 silage, and 10# grain 



On the basis of a 40-eow herd, each 

 of these rations means a different 

 weighing of several essential tasks 

 in carrying out feeding operations. 

 As indicated in the following esti- 

 mates, Ration 3 involves handling- 

 half as much hay but three times as 

 much silage as Ration 1. 



1. High hay ration 



800# hay, 600# silage, 

 400# grain 



Total 

 feed 



1800# 



2. Medium hay ration 

 600# hay, 1200# sil- 

 age, 400# grain 2200# 



3. Low hay ration 



400# hay, 1800# sil- 

 age, 400# grain 2600# 



4. No silage ration 

 1000# hay, 0# silage, 



400# grain 1400# 



The procedure in feeding a par- 

 ticular combination of feeds can usu- 

 ally be converted into a simple sched- 

 ule. Thus if several types of grain 

 seem essential for best results in a 

 herd, the process of distributing the 

 several kinds can be simplified and 

 done in one operation. 



Experience and tests have indi- 

 cated that the cow need not be fed 

 several times a day. She has an 

 ample paunch, is endowed with a 

 large digestive system, and has the 

 capacity to function well on two feed- 

 ings a day. Consequently, the first 

 step in efficient feeding can be the 

 simplification of feeding schedules so 

 that cows are fed only twice daily — in 

 the morning and late afternoon. 



The feeding of grain twice a day 

 seems to be good practice, and re- 

 quires very little additional time. The 

 schedule of feeding roughage can be 

 varied depending on the proportion 

 of hay and silage. A cart load of 

 600 pounds of silage is about the up- 

 per limit of convenient handling. This 

 amount would supply 40 cows with 

 an average of 15 pounds. Thus if 

 the feed of silage is light, one trip 

 around the barn would complete the 

 feeding of silage for the day. Like- 

 wise, 1200 pounds of silage would 

 mean two large cartloads and could 

 be handled in two feedings of 600 

 pounds each. The 1800 pounds of 

 silage could be handled by the use 

 of two cartloads (1200 pounds) at 

 the morning feeding and one cart- 

 load (600 pounds) at the evening 

 feed. In the latter case, one feed- 

 ing of 400 pounds of hay daily could 



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