H.\J\'IPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



DAIRY RECORD SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 



Cows Eating More Hay and Silage. Better Returns Noted from Grain Fed 



Number of Cows Giving Lbs. of Milk Per Day 

 Lbs. Millc P e r Lb. Grain | 10-20 | 20-30 | 30-40 j Above^O p/t ol"Total 

 Below 2.6" I 13 | | | | 7.1 



The December Dairy Eecord Summary 

 shows that 49. 9^^ of the cows reported are 

 giving over 3. .5 lbs of milk per pound of 

 grain. The way these cows are being fed 

 points the way whereby the other half of 

 the cows can do as well. The first re- 

 quirement is that the cows be given a 

 liberal ration of hay or hay and silage. 

 Many faimers would be surprised at the 

 amount of hay and silage that cows will 

 eat if given the opportunity. The Decem- 

 ber feed records show that cows are eat- 

 ing 25 to 30 lbs. of hay daily. When hay 

 and silage are fed, they will eat 15 to 20 

 lbs. of hay, plus 30 to 45 lbs of silage, 

 depending on the size and the capacity of i 

 the cow. When cows eat these amounts ! 

 of home grown roughages, the records , 

 show that it is possible to get over 3.5 I 

 lbs. of milk per pound of grain. This ap- ; 

 plies to cows giving from 10 to 40 lbs. of 

 milk daily. 



Three quarters of the cows reported in 

 December were giving less than 30 lbs. 

 of milk per day. Eighty-one or 60V( of' 

 these were giving less than 3.5 lbs. of 

 milk per pound of grain. It is this last \ 

 group on which farmers are losing money. \ 

 In some cases these cows are culls and 

 should be disposed of. Some of the cows 

 in this group are being fed gi-ain more 

 liberally than production warrants be- 

 cause they are thin. This condition could 

 have been avoided if these cows had been , 

 economically fed during the earlier parts 

 of their lactation period. 



Economical Feeding 



The problem of economical feeding for 

 milk production starts before the cow 

 freshens. Every farmer knows that a 

 cow does not do her best when she calves 

 thin. Good dairymen have their cows in 

 good flesh at this time. After calving, 

 the cow should be given all of the hay 

 and silage she will clean up. Grain 

 should not be fed until all chance of 

 milk fever is past and the udder is free 

 from "cake." Then the cow should be 

 started on not over 5 lbs. of grain per 

 day. This should be increased at the rate 

 of 1 lb. every other day and only so long 

 as the cow increases in production. When 

 the last half pound of grain fails to bring 

 an increase in milk production, you have 

 reached the limit of this cow's productive 

 capacity. Any increase in grain above 



this point will result either in the cow 

 going off feed or else cutting down on the 

 amount of hay and silage she eats. Good 

 cows will reach maximum production in 

 about 30 days while poor cows reach it 

 in about 25 days after freshening. 



Fresh Cows Often Underfed 



One of the common mistakes brought 

 out in these records is that dairymen as 

 a rule are not increasing the gi'ain on 

 fresh cows to find out the cow's produc- 

 tive capacity. The method given above 

 is safe and sane. It requires weighing 

 the fresh cow's milk every day. The 

 usual method is to guess that a certain 

 cow will need 10 lbs. of grain for maxi- 

 mum production. This may be too little 

 for the amount of milk given and for the 

 amount of hay and silage being fed. If 

 it is too little and the cow is a good one 

 and in good flesh, she will keep up a 

 good milk flow foi' some time, but she will 

 take the materials from her body to sup- 

 ply the deficiency in the feed. The re- 

 sult is that she gets thin and milk pro- 

 duction drops more rapidly than it should. 

 Then grain has to be fed more liberally 

 than production warrants to get her back 

 in condition. This may explain why 

 some of the cows giving from 10-30 lbs. 

 of milk per day are giving less than 3.5 

 lbs. of milk per pound of grain. 



Too Many Cows For Feed Grown 



Many years ago, Governor Hoard gave 

 the following advice to men who simply 

 want to keep cows: "If you have feed 

 enough for 10 cows, keep 20; you will 

 have twice as many cows and will get al- 

 most as much milk." This is the condi- 

 tion in which too many Hampshire Coun- 

 ty dairy farmers find themselves at pre- 

 sent. Most farms do not have more cows 

 than can be handled economically with the 

 available labor, but there is a shortage 

 of homegrown feed. There is just one 

 way that grain bills can be reduced eco- 

 nomically and that is by selling cows. If 

 the cows are poor producers, the sooner 

 this reduction is made, the better. If 

 the cows are good producers, and there 

 is a market for the milk, it will be better 

 to feed heavily with grain even though 

 the cows just meet expenses. This ap- 

 plies only to the men who can and will 

 make the effort to increase the supply of 

 roughage during the next growing sea- 

 son. 



How Roughage Supply Can be Increased 



Few dairy farms have reached maxi- 

 mum roughage production. Some of the 

 following ways of increasing the rough- 

 age supply apply to all dairy farms: — 



1. Order enough nitrate of soda, sul- 

 fate of ammonia or 8-6-6 mixed goods 

 so that the equivalent of 100 to 200 lbs. 

 of nitrate of soda can be put on every 

 acre of good mowing. Where manure is 

 used in the spring, as a top dressing for 

 mowings, the benefit shows mostly in the 

 rowen. 100 lbs. of nitrate of soda per 

 acre will pay well on these fields. Home 

 mixed 8-6-6 can be made as follows: — 

 900 lbs. nitrate of soda, 750 lbs. acid 

 phosphate, plus 240 lbs. muriate of pot- 

 ash plus 110 lbs. drier. Use 300 to 500 

 lbs. per acre. On good mowing this 

 should increase the hay from 1500 to 2000 

 lbs. per acre. 



(2) On land where the hay is poor, a 

 crop of peas and oats will give a hay 

 crop that is far better than mixed hay. 

 The land should be given 10 loads of 

 manure, 300-500 lbs. of acid phosphate 

 and 1 to 3 tons of limestone per acre. 

 After the peas and oats are off, the land 

 may be disced and seeded to grass and 

 clover or alfalfa. 



(3) On farms where silage was short, 

 we would advise growing a bigger acreage 

 of corn so as to be sure to fill the silo. 

 Be sure to use acid phosphate with the 

 manure as it amply repays the extra 

 cost. Order your seed corn early as it 

 is going to be high and is likely to be 

 poor quality. 



(4) On land that is to be seeded down, 

 be sure that you put lime enough on to 

 insure a good growth of clover. Have 

 your soil tested and don't guess. 



(5) Do not use over IJ bushels of oats 

 to the acre, if you are seeding down in 

 them. You will get less oats but you will 

 insure a better stand of grass and clover. 



Service Free to Dairy Fiirmers 



We should like to have every dairy 

 farmer in the county sending in the dairy 

 record sheets. By adding up the three 

 days' milk records, we have a simple yet 

 fairly accurate record of the cow's yearly 

 production. This gives one an easy way 

 of spotting poor cows. The feed records 

 show the weaknesses in the present feed- 

 ing system. This information is only 

 valuable io the dairyman if he uses it. 

 The glaring trouble is lack of home grown 

 feeds. This month we have pointed out 

 a few ways in which this trouble can be 

 remedied. Grain rations and other in- 

 formation are sent co-operators every 

 month. 



The service is free to every dairy farm- 

 er in the county. There are few if any 

 that it cannot help. We will be glad to 

 send you the necessary information. 

 Start the new year right by keeping these 

 recoi'ds. You never can tell if this 

 service will help you unless you try it. 



