January, 1938] 

 Table 5. Kinds 



Dairy Herd Replacements 



11 



of feed consumed by heifers on 190 farms, and the amount 

 and value of each. 



* No value was assigned to skim milk in those instances where it other- 

 wise would have been wasted. 



of raising heifers. On the other hand, the cash costs were less, thus 

 giving some justification to the farmers' reasoning tliat the costs were 

 less noticeable. 



The relation of various factors to feed costs of raising heifers does not 

 take into consideration differences in quality and kind of feeds consumed 

 or in quality of heifers raised. Variations in length of pasture season 

 measure differences in practices and cannot generally be accounted for 

 by climatic factors within a relatively small area. They may or may 

 not be a matter of pasture quality. It is possible that those farmers 

 who started barn feeding earlier in the fall were able to attain a more 

 desired quality of heifer. This and other factors are shown here merely 

 as a matter of their relation to feed costs and their interrelationships to 

 each other, and are not to be interpreted as recommended practices. 



Heifers born during the autumn months or in early winter were, in 

 most cases, turned out to pasture during the entire first pasture season. 

 Many of these heifers first freshened at an age of over 30 months and 

 were therefore pastured for three, or nearly three, entire pasture sea- 

 sons. In these instances, the age at first freshening was not a factor in 

 correspondingly increasing the feed costs exclusive of pasture. On 44 

 farms the average heifer was turned out to pasture at seven months or 

 less of age and during the total heifer days was pastured an average of 

 392 days which is more than the equivalent of two pasture seasons of 

 168 days each (Table 6). On these farms the average heifer freshened 

 one month older than on farms where heifers were not turned out to 

 pasture until 12 or more months of age. However, in view of the fact 

 that the earlier pastured heifers utilized pasture for nearly two months 

 in their third year, the extra month of heifer days did not have an im- 



