accompany the lighter feed of silage 

 in the late afternoon. 



Thus the feeding of 800 pounds of 

 hay, 600 pounds of silage, and 400 

 pounds of grain could be accomplished 

 by the following schedule: 



Morning 



200# grain before milking 



400# hay after milking 



600# silage after breakfast 

 Night 



200# grain before night milking 



400# hay after night milking 



On the other hand, the feeding of 

 400 pounds of hay, 1800 pounds of 

 silage, and 400 pounds of grain might 

 involve the following schedule: 



Morning 



200# grain before milking 

 1200# silage, two 600# cartloads, after 

 milking 

 Night 



400# hay before milking 

 200# grain before milking 

 600# silage after milking 



Thus the operation of feeding in the 

 case above breaks down to the pro- 

 cedures involved in: (1) moving 200 

 pounds of grain from storage and 

 distribution to cows; (2) transfer- 

 ring 400 pounds of hay from the mow 

 storage and distribution to the cows; 

 and (3) the moving of 600 pounds of 

 silage from the silo to the barn floor 

 and its distribution. These can now 

 be considered one at a time. 



Grain Feeding 



The feeding of grain consists of 

 two major tasks: (1) preparation, 

 which involves the work in the grain 

 storage, such as the opening of sacks, 

 tilling the grain cart, and sweeping 

 the storage, and (2) the actual dis- 

 tribution of the grain to the cows. 



A variety of situations exist in 

 present preparation practices : 



(1) Grain was stored in 100- 

 pound sacks on the floor above the 

 cows. The operator traveled up the 

 stairs, carried 100-pound sacks to the 

 trap door over the feed floor and 

 dropped them through the opening to 

 the feed alley below. He then trav- 

 eled down the stairs to the feed floor, 

 opened the sacks and emptied grain 



into the grain cart. Approximately 

 100 feet of travel horizontally and a 

 trip up and down one flight of stairs 

 were involved in every feeding, 



(2) Grain was stored in a grain 

 room on the same floor as the cows 

 and near the feed alley. The opera- 

 tor opened sacks, lifted them waist 

 high and emptied them into the cart. 

 About 25 feet of travel was involved 

 in going to and from the storage. 



(3) A few operatoi's have made 

 special provisions to store grain in 

 bulk on the floor above the cows. At 

 feeding time they draw it directly in- 

 to the cart by gravity. This arrange- 

 ment requires very little travel and 

 the work of preparation was done 

 either occasionally or done at the 

 time of delivery of grain. The task 



Fig. 14. One method of storing 

 grain on the floor above the 

 cows. Note that when and if 

 grain in bulk becomes avail- 

 able, arrangements could be 

 made to till the feed bin di- 

 rectly from a dump truck. 



of opening and emptying sacks can 

 be done quicker and easier when 

 many sacks are handled at one period. 

 This is because the detailed procedure 

 can be followed and the tools are at 

 hand. In one case the feed company 

 did most of the work of opening and 

 emptying sacks at time of delivery 

 and took the sacks back to the store. 

 The farmer had developed special 

 facilities so that the delivery truck- 

 men could empty the bags of grain 

 directly into the bulk grain storage 

 with less eff'ort than is required on 

 most other farms. The operator had 

 grain available at his control in the 

 feed alley. 



22 



