HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FEEDING FACTS 



Summary of February Dairy Records 



At the Dairy Farmers Extension 

 Schools recently held in this County an 

 effort was made to interest dairymen in 

 more efficient feeding. To feed efficiently 

 it is necessary to know how much milk 

 each cow gives daily as well as the weight 

 of the grain, hay, silage and beet pulp 

 fed. Under the present plan a blank is 

 sent the first of the month on which to 

 record the milk produced by each cow for 

 the first three days. Space is provided 

 for the weight of one day's hay, grain 

 and silage. By the eighth of the month 

 the reports are to be returned to the 

 County Agent to be summarized. This 

 service is free to every dairyman in the 

 county. You can start now if you wish. 



In February, 40 reports were received. 

 These have been summarized and re- 

 turned to each cooperator. The follow- 

 ing is the summary: 



Number of Percentage 



Cows of Total 



51 i2.0 



156 36.5 



145 34.2 



53 12.5 



15 3.5 



4 .9 



I. Kind of Cows 



Lbs. Milk 

 Per Day 



Below 10 



10-20 



20-30 



30-40 



40-50 



Above 50 



In this group of 424 cows there are 

 undoubtedly many which are poor pro- 

 ducers and should be sold. Some of the 

 cows are not really at their best, due to 

 the period of lactation. Nearly one-half 

 of the cows reporting are giving less than 

 10 quarts of milk per day. This table 

 substantiates the belief expressed at the 

 Schools that every cow in the herd is 

 not giving 40 pounds of milk per day. 



II. Returns from Grain 



Lbs. of Milk for No. of Percentage 

 1 lb. Grain Cows of Total 



Below 2 82 20.9* 



2.1-2.5 84 21.4 



2.6-3.0 84 21.4 



3.1-3.5 60 15.3 



Over 3.5 82 20.9 



* 32 cows were dry. 392 was taken as 

 100%. 



Here, then, is the situation in a nut- 

 shell: Professor Fawcett has called our 

 attention to the fact that the ordinary, 

 average cow of the county, producing 

 around 30 pounds of milk per day, can 

 and will produce four or more pounds 

 of milk per pound of grain consumed if 

 fed liberally on hay and silage and given 

 the right kind of grain but the records 

 so far received do not indicate that fann- 

 ers generally are succeeding in getting 

 that sort of production or anything like 

 it. As a result they are spending so 

 large a portion of the milk check for 

 grain as to have very little left to pay 



for hay, silage, labor and other costs of 

 production, not to mention profit. 



Basic Principles of Feeding 



What is the matter? Two things, 

 mainly. First, a tendency to feed to the 

 low and medium producers too much of 

 a gi-ain too low in protein for greatest 

 economy, and second, not sufficiently lib- 

 eral feeding of hay and silage. In some 

 cases, perhaps rather generally, cows are 

 given "all the hay and silage they will 

 eat" but at the same time_ given so much 

 grain that they will not eat very much 

 hay and silage. The cow of moderate 

 producing ability hasn't an unlimited ap- 

 petite and can easily be fed grain enough 

 to cause her to cut down quite consider- 

 ably on her consumption of hay and 

 roughage. 



It is more profitable to feed hay and 

 silage as liberally as possible and use 

 grain as a supplement than to feed hay 

 and silage less liberally and use grain not 

 only as a supplement but also as a sub- 

 stitute for the simple reason that, in 

 general, the farmer pays himself foi' hay 

 and silage but has to pay some one else 

 for the grain. The cheaper milk gets as 

 compared with grain the more important 

 this matter becomes. 



Too little Hay and Silage on Farms 



Right now, however, the principal dif- 

 ficulty seems to be the fact that most 

 farmers are feeding hay and silage about 

 as liberally as they can and have enough 

 to last until the cows go out to pasture. 

 If this situation is as general as we be- 

 lieve it is and if it prevails not only this 

 year but most other years as well, the 

 only real solution is a changed ratio be- 

 tween feed produced and cows wintered: 

 either fewer cows or more feed. We hesi- 

 tate to advise reducing the number of 

 cows much as a general policy, even in 

 the face of a falling price for milk, as 

 we have a very great respect for volume 

 of farm business as a means of making 

 a decent labor income. Doubtless there 

 are a good many cows whose room would 

 be preferable to their company; still it 

 doesn't take a very good cow to produce 

 more income than an empty stanchion, 

 particularly if you have the home grown 

 feed to winter her through. 



The Best Way Out 



Producing more feed so as to be able 

 to carry the present herds on a whole 

 lot smaller grain bills appeals to us move 

 than drastic reduction in number of cows 

 as a general policy. 



How to go about it? Professor Abbott 

 says : "There are two practicable ways 

 of producing more feed for next winter, 

 one, which costs nothing, pertaining to 

 the silage corn crop and is likely to in- 

 crease returns by $40 worth of feed per 

 acre and one pertaining to the hay crop 

 which necessitates spending some money 

 for fertilizer but which is fairly certain 

 to be profitable." 



"Few men seem to appreciate that an 

 acre of corn will double in feeding value 

 in 30 days after the silks dry but such 

 is the case. The green weight makes but 

 little increase but the dry weight in- 

 creases at the rate of about 150 pounds 

 per acre per day. One acre (12 tons) of 

 silage corn cut as soon as the silks dry 

 contains only 4567 pounds of dry matter. 

 The same acre of corn 30 days later con- 

 tains 8104 pounds of dry matter. At the 

 same time the percentage of digestibility 

 has increased at least 10 per cent. That 

 gain of 3537 pounds of dry matter means 

 just that much corn meal saved on next 

 winter's grain bill." 



"That is perhaps an extreme case. 

 More men, perhaps, cut corn for silage 

 when it is in the milk but even then there 

 is a further possible gain of about one 

 ton of corn meal per acre by letting it 

 reach the well dented or early glazing 

 stage." 



Early Planting of Silage Pays 



"Corn does not do much the first month 

 of its life and but little mere the second 

 but as it approaches maturity it piles up 

 sugar and starch at the rate of about 

 150 pounds per acre per day and it costs 

 a farmer money of he plants it so late 

 that he has to cut it off at the height of 

 its activity to avoid frost. I think there 

 is no way in wliich the Massachusetts 

 dairy farmer can increase feed production 

 so cheaply and so largely as by making a 

 very special effort to plant silage corn 

 I early on a thoioughly well prepared seed 

 I bed .so that it will have time to complete 

 its growth before frost. We must have 

 cjuantity of course but it is equally im- 

 I portant to have quality too." 



"The way to get both is to use the larg- 

 est variety that will come within two 

 i weeks of getting ripe in the fall growing 

 ' season and then 'snap into it' in the 

 spring and plant early enough so as to 

 take advantage of the full growing sea- 

 son." 



Nitrate Pays on Hay Crop 



"Increasing feed production by fer- 

 tilizing the hay crop is not quite so at- 

 tractive a proposition as its costs three 

 to seven dollars per acre, depending on 

 the kind and amount of fertilizer, but 

 even so it is a practicable and profitable 

 means of providing home gi'own feed to 



j reduce the grain bill. Various grades, 

 mixtures and amounts of fertilizer are 

 recommended and used for hay top-dress- 

 ing but the ammonia is the all important 

 constituent in a top-dressing fertilizer. 

 One hundred pounds of nitrate of soda or 

 200 pounds of an 8 per cent goods per 

 acre is about right. It is best applied 

 as soon as the fields green up in good 

 shape in the spring. It may be expected 



I to increase the yield 1200 to 1500 pounds 

 under fair conditions. With two pounds 

 of hay about equivalent to one pound of 

 grain this .shows a fair profit. 



