June, 1940] Studies of Pasture Management 9 



A dairy cow requires about 3.5 tons of good quality hay per year 

 Avhen no silage is fed. Hay yields over a period of years should av- 

 erage at least 1.75 tons per acre. This would require a maximum of 

 about 2 acres of hay land per animal unit. Data for the 256 farms 

 surveyed show about 1.68 acres, a yield of 1.36 tons per acre and 

 about' .28 tons of purchased hay per cow. The balance of the rough- 

 age is obtained from silage or its equivalent. 



These data seem to indicate that on the larger farms at least this 

 method of obtaining suitable i^asture offers little opportunity. How- 

 ever, on farms where such land is available and present yields of hay 

 are low. improved yields of hay would permit such transfer, and 

 would reduce the cost of obtaining a more nearly adequate^ supply of 

 pasture. Otherwise improvement must occur by fertilization of the 

 open permanent pasture, and by clearing and fertilizing the better 

 brushy pasture. 



Annual Pastures 



On certain lighter soils where permanent pastures would be diffi- 

 cult or expensive to maintain, annual pasture crops may be substitut- 

 ed. Such annual pasture crops used as nurse crops for hay or pas- 

 ture seeding are of particular value, since both experimental and 

 practical experience* have shown that a superior stand of hay or 

 pasture usually resulted. 



Pasture Production 



Pasture area per cow, depending on condition of pasture and per- 

 centage of wooded and rocky land, is quite variable, from as. little as 

 4.3 acres in Rockingham county to 9 acres per cow in Sullivan coun- 

 ty. The average for the state for the farms surveyed is 5.5 acres 

 per cow. Yet this pasture in its jM'esent condition is inadequate. A 

 great deal of even the so-called open pasture has some growth other 

 than good pasture herbage. It includes certain amounts of pasture 

 incapable of economic improvement, or in some cases of any im- 

 provement. The open area varies from 1.4 acres to 3.8 acres per cow. 

 averaging 2.3 acres. The total area of pasture supplies only 104.8 

 days of pasture or 7?i per cent of the total roughage used during the 

 pasture season of 144 days. With some shift to later summer and 

 early fall and winter production more pasture than this would be re- 

 cjuired. 



During the summer pasture period the farmers of Coos county fed 

 less grain per cow than did farmers in any other area. The low 

 price for milk makes it necessary to obtain as much as possible of 

 the year's milk production from pasture. Because of this dependence 

 on pasture, slumps in late summer milk production are usualh^ great- 

 er than elsewhere in the state. 



Pasture Management 

 Night pasture 



Nearly all farms have stock on pasture day and night, but only 

 about half of them pasture milk cows at night. Night pasture is us- 



*Report of Department of Agronomy demonstrations. 



