keep busy even if the task is not es- 

 sential at that moment. This habit 

 was probably acquired when opera- 

 tions were small and labor was cheap. 

 But it has been maintained in a pe- 

 riod of high wages. 



Summary of Feeding 



The daily task of feeding cows 

 varied greatly on the farms studied. 

 Adjusted to a 40-cow basis, the high- 

 est record in labor used was 145.8 

 and the lowest was 47.7 man minutes. 



The time and ease of feeding can 

 be reduced on most farms by: 



1. Organizing a work center for 

 feeding operations — a place where all 

 daily feeding tasks begin and end. 

 This is especially desirable in plan- 

 ning a new barn or in remodelling an 

 old one. The silos, the grain room, 

 and the entrance to the hay storage 

 can be grouped in one general work 

 center area. The silage and grain 

 carts and all the small equipment 

 used in feeding should have special 

 places. The feeding work center 

 should be located not too far from 

 the milk work center. If this is done, 

 a shift from a feeding chore to a 

 milking task or vice-versa will in- 

 volve as little travel as possible. 



2. Organizing the stall arrange- 

 ment so that each operation can be 

 done in a trip around a circle, thus 

 avoiding back tracking. If cows face 



out, feeding grain involves one trip 

 around the barn beginning and end- 

 ing at the work center. 



3. Simplifying the feeding opera- 

 tions into the essential things. Elim- 

 inate the frills. Have as few kinds of 

 mixture of concentrates as possible. 

 Mix grains instead of feeding several 

 grains separately. 



4. Using well-designed carts for 

 grain and silage. Have a special 

 place for each cart so that it does not 

 interfere with other chores. 



5. Making special arrangements 

 so that feed preparation can be done 

 in advance, thus making labor re- 

 quirements more flexible and reducing 

 total time. 



The actual distribution of feed, not 

 including preparation, can be accom- 

 plished in 5 trips around the feed- 

 ing alleys at total travel of about 

 1400 feet in 22 man minutes. 



The table below shows the man 

 minutes required under ideal condi- 

 tions to distribute feed to 40 cows. 

 It does not include preparation. 



Thus if the preparation work can 

 all be done in advance, one man can 

 do the feeding at the proper time 

 very quickly. If an operator is spend- 

 ing more than 60 man minutes per 

 day in feeding 40 cows, special at- 

 tention might well be given to explor- 

 ing possibilities of readjustments to 

 reduce the time. 



Minutes Required to Feed 40 Cows 



39 



