Fig. 31. Silaye is distributed quick- 

 ly to waiting cows. The cart 

 is still in the experimental 

 stage and is being designed. 



and the back wheel is on a swivel, 

 the turning will be easier. 



A special cart was made to unload 

 and distribute silage. By means of a 

 revolving belt operated by a hand 

 crank, the silage was moved out of 

 the side of the cart. On several trials 

 sufficient silage for a feed for 20 

 cows was distributed in an average 

 of 1.1 minutes. Including the travel 

 to and from the silo, 600 pounds of 

 silage can be distributed in 4 man 

 minutes or less. 



Miscellaneous Feeds 



Several operators added small 

 quantities of special feed to the ra- 

 tion to give variety and to stimulate 

 appetite. The usual practice was to 

 feed these extra items at noon or some 

 special time during the middle of the 

 day. On one farm, low quality hay 

 was fed in the morning. At noon a 

 limited feeding of high quality rowen 



was fed on the theory that the cows 

 would eat more total roughage. In- 

 cidentally, this was one method of us- 

 ing up low quality hay. The operator 

 will soon have a larger proportion of 

 good quality legume hay and there 

 will then be no advantage in feeding 

 several times a day. The need to feed 

 cows more than twice a day is perhaps 

 debatable, but if these special feeds 

 can be mixed with regular feeds or 

 omitted entirely, greater labor effi- 

 ciency will result. 



Where the operator feels that spe- 

 cial feeds are essential to economic 

 production on his farm, he should 

 give special attention to the labor ef- 

 ficiency of this extra feeding. If, for 

 instance, an operator is mixing 100 

 pounds of beet pulp with 300 pounds 

 of water and feeding it to 40 cows 



Fig. 32. For a special teed mixture 

 of beet pulp and water, a 

 steel drum or wooden barrel 

 on wheels can be made to 

 distribute the mixture 

 quickly. 



35 



