4. Efficiency of the Grain-Feeding Operation 



on Dairy Farms 



MANY dairymen over the years have made substantial improvements 

 in operating efficiency,* through improved buildings and building 

 arrangements, crop production and harvesting adjustments, disease control, 

 breeding programs, and improved chore practices.f As with the New Hamp- 

 shire poultry industry, numbers of farms engaged in dairying have de- 

 clined materially over the past two decades. There were milk cows on 11,018 

 farms in 1930, 10,572 farms in 1940, and 7,603 farms in 1950. Average herd 

 size increased over 25 percent from 1930 to 1950; milk production per 

 cow was up over 20 percent. 



Table 18 shows the growing importance of larger units. In 1939, 

 29.9 percent of farms reporting milk cows had 10 cows or over, and herds 

 of 10 cows or over accounted for 63.0 percent of the total number of milk 

 cows. In 1950, these proportions were 22.3 percent and 75.8 percent, re- 

 spectively. 



Table 18. Shifts in Percentage Distribution of Farms and Milk Cows, 

 by Herd Size, New Hampshire, 1939-1950 



Source: Census of Agriculture, 1940, 1945, 1950. 



Output per man has increased on dairy farms. At the same time, adop- 

 tion of new practices and machinery have increased capital requirements. 

 Any attempts to mechanize grain feeding will add to capital requirements 

 and should decrease labor requirements, but the net result on the farmer's 

 income can only be determined by balancing one against the other. 



There is probably less time-savings incentive for dairy farmers to re- 

 arrange or relocate facilities for storing grain, to adopt bulk feed, or to 

 improve feeding arrangements than there is for poultrymen. Feeding grain 

 to dairy cattle in itself does not take a very significant share of total chore 

 time. In Table 19, for example, only 7 minutes daily are devoted to grain 

 preparation and feeding of the milking herd. Total feeding takes 46 minutes, 

 and total daily chores on cov/s 360 minutes. An additional 71 minutes 

 are listed for caring for young stock and calves (51) and spreading manure. 



* Relative to cost reduction opportunities see Fellows, I. F. ; Frick, G. E.; and 

 Weeks, S. B., Production Efficiency on New England Dairy Farms. 1. A Preliminary 

 Appraisal of Cost Reduction Opportunities. Storrs Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 283, Jan., 1952. 



t Feeding, manure disposal, and milking. An example of possibilities under the 

 latter may be found in the following publication: Woodworth. H. C; Morrow, K. S. ; 

 and Holmes, J. C, Efficient Dairy Cfiore Practices. Part II. Rapid Milking. N. H. Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. Circ. 76, June, 1947. 



33 



