from the mow to the feed floor is a 

 large task even if it is partially ob- 

 scured by spreading the labor over a 

 long period. In some barns where 

 the hay has to be transported a long- 

 distance in the mow, special attention 

 should be given to inexpensive me- 

 chanical aids. 



More important than the reduction 

 of total physical human effort and 

 man hours is the development of 

 practices that will make this opera- 

 tion more flexible in the demand for 

 labor. If an operator under his con- 

 ditions finds a way to prepare hay in 

 the mow one day a week so that a 

 week's supply is available to him at 

 his control by push button methods, 

 he has reduced the need of labor at 

 definite peak period times. His avail- 

 able labor can be used to greater ad- 

 vantage. 



Distributing Hay 



On the farms studied, the range 

 in time spent in distributing hay was 

 6.4 to 61.2 man minutes daily on a 

 basis of 40 cows. The highest was 

 on a farm where imported Kansas- 

 baled hay was fed, and the lowest was 

 local field baled hay. In the first in- 

 stance, the operator had difficulty 

 shaking the tightly compressed heavy 

 Kansas bales apart. In the second 

 case, the bales were made by ma- 

 chines that cut the hay in sections 

 during the field baling process. They 

 were light, weighing about 60 pounds 

 each, and fell apart when the binding 

 twine was cut. One operator feed- 

 ing long hay twice daily spent 19.4 

 man minutes distributing to the cows 

 (40-cow basis) and one operator dis- 

 tributing chopped hay by cart spent 

 15.6 man minutes. One year later 

 the time on these farms had been re- 

 duced to 12.7 and 9.2 man minutes, 

 respectively. 



The distribution of hay to the cows 

 is most convenient when the supply 

 is available at several points in the 



Fig. 30. Small temporary storage 

 space near the feed alley 

 may be useful in feeding 

 hay on some farms. 



feed alley and is at the control of 

 the operator from the feed floor. Each 

 form of hay handles differently, but 

 an experienced operator can distrib- 

 ute 400 pounds of hay for one feed- 

 ing to 40 cows in about three min- 

 utes provided the hay is available at 

 several points. If the hay is avail- 

 able only at the end of the barn, the 

 operator will require more movement 

 of hay and will take longer to com- 

 plete the operation. In the case of 

 chopped hay, the use of a cart is prac- 

 tical if hay has to be moved some 

 distance. The cart can be filled by 

 gravity from storage above. The hay 

 can be forked out or partially rolled 

 out of the cart with a special silage 

 fork. The operator can usually move 

 the cart by pushing it with the fork 

 so that little time is lost. The spe- 

 cial silage cart with unloading de- 

 vice can be used to advantage on some 

 farms. The cartload of feed for 20 

 cows was distributed in 1.5 man min- 

 utes. 



A load of 250 pounds of chopped 

 hay, which represents one feeding for 

 20 cows, is about the limit of con- 

 venience in handling by cart. In 

 feeding 40 cows, facilities for filling 

 the cart by gravity from above at 

 each end of the barn would be most 



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