282 BULLETIN 409 



The usual practice is to buy all -the grain. Only 53 farms raised any 

 grain to feed cattle. Practically all of this was oats and buckwheat. 

 Purchased grain represented 96 per cent of the quantity used, and at the 

 average price of $29.86 a ton it represented also 96 per cent of the charge 

 for grain used by dairy cattle. The average value of home-grown grain 

 used was $31.48 a ton. 



Succulent feed. Silage, green corn,- potatoes, cabbage, cabbage fodder, 

 mangels, beets, turnips, carrots, apples, soiling crops, skimmilk purchased, 

 and other feeds with a very high percentage of water, were classed as 

 succulent feed. Brewers' grains wet were converted to their dry equivalent 

 by considering 3.8 pounds of wet grains equal to i pound of dried grains, 

 and were charged under grain rather than under succulent feed. Quanti- 

 ties, costs, and the number of farms using each kind of succulent feed, 

 are given in table 2. 



Corn silage was charged at $5 a ton. Under some conditions, the market 

 value of silage should be used when charging it to another enterprise; 

 but generally, in New York State, corn for the silo is not raised to be sold 

 either as grain or as silage, and hence it should be charged at cost. There 

 is no reason to believe that the cost of producing silage on the farms studied 

 was less than this figure. 



Of the 149 farms, 69, or 46 per cent, fed silage. On these farms, 4284 

 tons of corn silage and 20 tons of millet silage were fed dairy cattle. An 

 agricultural census of the State taken in 1917 showed that 3027 farms in 

 Broome County kept dairy cows and 1033 grew corn for the silo in 1916; 

 thus, about one-third of the farms with dairy cows grew silage. 



Other succulent feeds were charged at their estimated farm values. 

 Of all the herds, 26, or 17 per cent, fed no succulent feed. Excepting 21.8 

 tons of skimmilk and 1.35 tons of potatoes purchased, all succulent feed 

 was raised on the farms where fed. 



Dry forage. All hay, corn stover, straw, and other cured roughage 

 was classed as dry forage. One per cent was purchased. Of this, n 

 farms bought 42.75 tons of hay, and two other farms bought 12 tons of 

 cornstalks. The amount fed to dairy cattle per farm was 35.4 tons, 

 of which mixed hay constituted 63 per cent. The average value of dry 

 forage per ton was $9.62. Details as to quantities, costs, and number of 

 farms using each kind of dry forage, are given in table 3 . 



Pasture. Most farms had sufficient pasture for their cattle. Of the 

 149 farmers, 45 paid $793 to pasture some of their cattle a part or all of 

 the season, and 20 received $305 for stock taken in. 



Pasture was charged at cost. In determining this cost, interest at 5 

 per cent and taxes at 0.5 per cent were charged on the value of the land 

 pastured. Charges for labor and materials used in making and repairing 

 pasture fences, in manuring when manure was hauled and applied, in 

 fertilizing, reseeding, mowing brush or weeds, or in any other treatment 



