18 N. H. Agr. Experiment Station [Bulletin 275 



affected j'early milk production per cow. In these instances neither 

 grain nor succulent feeds were used to supplement poor peimanent 

 pastures in August. In all other cases hay or a soiling crop was fed 

 during August and early September. 



While pastures are very important and are discussed in detail later, 

 there is apparently little correlation between pasturage and milk pro- 

 duction. Based on the estimated equivalent of good pasture per cow, 

 the first group had onlj^ one-tenth of an acre per cow more than Group 



2 and only three-tenths of an acre more than Group 3. Within each 

 group, the variations were extremely wide. 



Pastures in their present condition do not furnish sufficient roughage 

 in July and August. Even where there is a relatively large area of 

 good pasture per cow, the feed was not abundant in August. Conse- 

 quently the skill of the operator in supplementing the short pasture, 

 thus maintaining the condition of the cows and maintaining the milk 

 flow, had more effect than pasture conditions alone. 



Grain 



In feeding grain it is not high production that counts but rather that 

 production which will be most profitable from the viewpoint of the 

 whole farm. And this most economic point of production will vary, 

 depending on the value of the milk, price of grain, roughage and 

 other factors. 



When the farms were sorted into three groups on production per 

 cow (Table 4), the average annual grain consumption per cow was 

 1,722, 1,137 and 728 pounds, respectively, for the high, medium and 

 low producing groups. However, there was a ^\'ide range in grain feed- 

 ing within each group. In Group 1 the range was from 883 pounds 

 to 2,811 pounds; in Group 2 from 499 to 1,652 pounds; and in Group 



3 from 107 to 1,366 pounds. 



In the high producing group the ratio of grain to milk was 1:3.8, in 

 the medium group 1:4.2, and in the low group 1:4.6. 



A detailed study of grain feeding on individual farms offers inter- 

 esting contrasts. On one farm with an average production of over 

 5,000 pounds, the grain consumption was only 883 pounds, or a ratio 

 of one pound of grain to 5.7 pounds of milk. The operator supple- 

 mented pasture with good legume hay but did not feed grain during 

 June, July, August and September. He fed grain at the rate of 1 to 

 3.5 for the rest of the year. 



On another fann with an average production of 5,048 pounds, the 

 average grain consumption was 1,652, or at the ratio of one pound of 

 grain to three pounds of milk. This operator fed lightly of grain in 

 the pasture season (about 1 to 8), but during the winter months fed 

 at the ratio of 1 pound of grain to 2.2 pounds of milk. Such varia- 

 tions as this are due to the operator's attempt to offset the differences 

 in quality of roughage and pasture. 



Careless or unprofitable grain feeding was evident on more than half 

 the farms. Some operators tended to feed the same amount of grain 

 to all cows regardless of capacity or production — a practice that re- 

 sults in low returns per dollar's worth of grain. Others gave little 



