HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



THE WAY COWS ARE BEING FED 



Shortage of Haj' and Silage Cause of Much Heavy Grain Feeding 



Number of Cows giving 



Cows in the first two columns giving 

 less than 3.1 pounds of milk foi' a pound 

 of grain and in the other columns giving 

 less than o.l pounds of milk for a pound 

 of grain are being misfed. In many 

 cases it is because hay and silage have 

 practically given out and farmers are 

 feeding grain instead of buying hay. 

 This condition will cause cows to be 

 turned out before pastures are well 

 started and will mean poorer pastures 

 this summer. 



It is hoped that farmers will plan to 

 Tiave enough hay and silage in their barns 

 next winter to feed maximum amounts 

 to their cows. Early planting of silage 

 and the use of nitrate of .soda on the 

 better mowings will help to solve this 

 problem. Are you going to have enough 

 hay and silage next fall so that you can 

 feed 30 pounds of hay per day or 15 

 pounds of hay and 30 pounds of silage? 

 If not, there seems little chance of mak- 

 ing a profit in the dairy business. It 

 would be better to take an apparent loss 

 "by selling some cows rather than to keep 

 the whole herd on just a maintenance 

 ration. 



Emergency Hay Crops 



On the lighter land.s, it has been demon- 

 strated that soy beans and sudan grass 

 make a fine emergency hay crop. The 

 method which gives the best results is 

 to plant the soy beans with a corn 

 planter, using from 1 bushel to li bushels 

 per acre. Inoculation for the seed may 

 be secured by sending 25 cents to the 

 Department of Microbiology, M. A. C, 

 Amherst. 



The weeder should be used before the 

 beans are up and can be used in the mid- 

 dle of the day afterwards. When the 

 beans are 3 or 4 inches high, 10 to 15 

 pounds of sudan grass may be sown 

 broadcast and covered with the weeder. 

 Millet may be used instead of sudan 

 grass. E. Thornton Clark of Granby had 

 fine success with the soy bean-millet com- 

 bination two years ago. 



Seed Down l:arly 



Dairying is not a one year business. 

 Ample provision should be made for new 



seedings this year. The practice of seed- 

 ing in corn is economical and efficient if 

 properly done. There are two major 

 i-easons for failure to get a catch in corn: 

 (1) having too thick a stand of corn; (2) 

 seeding too late. By the liberal use of 

 the weeder or smoothing harrow, the 

 stand may be thinned to proper shape. 

 This same method will enable one to seed 

 in the corn earlier than usual. In spite 

 of the fact that the corn may have a few 

 more weeds, the grass and clover seed 

 should be sown the latter part of .June 

 or early in .July. If the field has been 

 properly cared for, the weeds which de- 

 veloped later will do little damage. Al- 

 falfa may be sown in the corn in this 

 same way if the land has been properly 

 limed and 500 pounds of acid phosphate 

 spread broadcast. Wilfred Parsons of 

 Southampton has used this method suc- 

 cessfully for several years. M. J. Madsen 

 of Southampton has a field seeded to a 

 combination of Alfalfa, Red Clover and 

 Timothy under this same method. Bruno 

 Zenner of Easthampton has a similar 

 field. At the college, satisfactory results 

 have been secured when the seed was 

 sown early. August seeding in heavy 

 corn is hardly ever a success. 



Standard Seed Mixture 



Farmers in this county have used modi- 

 fications of the following- .seed mixture 

 with success : 



15 pounds Timothy. 



4 pounds Red Top. 



5 pounds Red Clover. 

 4 pounds Alsike. 



On poorly drained and acid soils, omit 

 the red clover. On soils where red top 

 comes in naturally, this seed may be re- 

 duced or entirely left out. On .sweet 

 soils, well limed, the Alsike clover may be 

 reduced. On fertile fields twenty pounds 

 per acre of the above mixture per acre 

 will give a good stand. On less fertile 

 soils the whole amount should be u.sed. 



FEEDING ON PASTURE 



Few, if any pastures are good enough 

 to more than take the place of the rough- 

 age which has been fed in the barn. 



Practically as much grain will be needed, 

 but it may be lower in protein. 



It is certainly in order to make pasture 

 roughage replace as much grain as pos- 

 sible but this must not be carried too 

 far. The present milk price may induce 

 some to cut out gi-ain feeding almost en- 

 tirely, while others may either over-stock 

 the pasture, or depend on pasture too 

 long. The trouble with either plan, if it 

 results in very much lower milk produc- 

 tion, is that the cow still has to be fed 

 in order to keep her alive, and too much 

 of her ration goes for maintaining her 

 own body and too little for product. 



Assuming that the cows are to be kept 

 on the place, it will be much cheaper to 

 maintain a fair production than to at- 

 tempt to feed heavily enough to bring 

 back production in the fall, when prices 

 may be better. 



Those dairymen who are weighing their 

 milk once a month or oftener, and all 

 ought to be weighing now, will need to 

 watch the weights through the summer 

 just as carefully as when on winter feed- 

 ing. Feed grain still according to milk 

 production but increase if necessary as 

 the pasture grows shorter, unless some 

 other green crop is available. 



As pasture is fairly rich in protein, it 

 will not be necessary to have more than 

 about 16 per cent in the grain. 



A simple mixture could be made of 100 

 pounds hominy, 100 pounds bran, 100 

 pounds ground oats and 50 pounds cotton 

 seed meal. 4 pounds of bone meal and 

 3 pounds salt may be added. Or, some 

 ready mixed ration suitable to feed with 

 pasture may be used. 



Prof. C. J. Fawcett. 



1924 FEED POOL 



Changes Made in Policy this Year 



Several changes in policy announced 

 for the Eastern States 1924 Feed Pool, 

 which opened April 21st to continue to 

 the last of May, should make it appeal 

 to a still larger number of farmers than 

 those participating in last year's success- 

 ful pool. Giving the purchaser the option 

 of buying either at a known market price 

 plus carrying charges, or on the usual 

 "blind" pool basis whereby the price is 

 not known until all orders are in and 

 contracts placed, is a new departure in 

 the Exchange pool policy. It will un- 

 doubtedly attract many new poolers who 

 have hesitated hitherto to buying in ad- 

 vance with no knowledge of the delivered 

 cost. 



Another feature, which should guaran- 

 tee a favorable pool price, is the flexibili- 

 ty allowed the Exchange in altering the 

 original foimulae to suit any emergency 

 which might arise from a bullish market 

 in certain closely controlled ingredients. 

 It is understood that no such substitutes 

 would be made without immediate notice 

 to the farmer, or with any sacrifice in 

 Ct>ntiiiuc-d on page 12, column 2 



