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



of feed for two weeks early in May without seriously curtailing the 

 yield of hay. Some of the other fields were pastured after early hay- 

 ing. He was thus able to supply cows and young stock with adequate 

 pasturage and roughage; otherwise, he would have had to keep fewer 

 cows or purchase considerable roughage. 



The usual pasture season including fall grazing on tillage fields is 

 about 130 days in this area. But it is difficult to determine the re- 

 turns from each pasture on account of much supplementary feeding 

 and differences in milk production. The number of days in which 

 milking cows received all their roughage from pasture varied from 

 none to 168. The average was 92 days. Although this indicates 

 something of the great variation, it is to be noted that some herds had 

 an adequate supply of feed throughout the season, while others did 

 not have a sufficient amount. The quality which the pasture furnished 

 was at certain seasons very poor. 



On four farms the pastures were greatly overstocked, and cows were 

 regularly fed silage in the barn. Several operators relied on their 

 pastures too long in late summer and consequently milk production 

 was decreased. 



The pasture season was extended five to 20 days on a number of 

 fanns by fall feeding the mowing lands. The cows harvested the 

 aftennath more cheaply than the operator could. 



As a further comparison the capacity of the pasture on each farm 

 was estimated roughly on the basis of its equivalent of good pasture. 

 This was found to range from four-tenths to three acres per cow, with 

 an average of 1.6 acres per cow. On nearly all fanns, it was necessaiy 

 to supplement with green feed, silage or hay. This was done in a very 

 skillful and timely manner on some fanns, but failure in this respect 

 contributed toward low milk production per cow on other places. 



Time of freshening on these farms offsets somewhat the lack of 

 pasturage during late summer. Since 42 per cent of the cattle freshen 

 during September, October and November, the drain for feed on the 

 home pastures was partially relieved by placing these dry cattle in 

 back pastures prior to freshening. This practice may relieve the sit- 

 uation somewhat at present, but when the demand for even production 

 is greater, a different practice will have to be followed. 



It is doubtful if some of the back pastures have sufficient good feed 

 even for diy cows in August. On one fann the owner followed a plan 

 of grazing tillable fields and permanent pasture in rotation. Commer- 

 cial fertilizer, a]-)plied to a tillable field in April, made it ready for 

 pasturage May 2 — eight days earlier than average. 



Another fanner with poor pasture and with 20 per cent of his cows 

 freshening during July and August, did not try to supplement his 

 pasture until September 1. Milk production of the herd decreased as 

 a result, in spite of the freshening of several cows. His pasture was 

 adjacent to tillable fields which could have been used to pasture a 

 soiling crop or aftermath if it had been planned earlier in the summer. 

 The increase in milk production could have been obtained at a very 

 slight cost. • The price of milk at this time warranted greater production. 



On the fami diagramed in Figure 4, the owner did not have sufficient 

 pemianent pasture to furnish feed during the summer. Until the 

 pasture can be put in shape to produce more feed, it is suggested that 



