July, 1933] 



Roughage Production in New Hampshire 



19 



hay will require 357 hours, or 22.3 eight-hour days. But a part of this 

 is early cut grass hay followed by clover then with the later maturing 

 mixed hay. (Fig. 7) The peak labor load is reduced more than half 

 if we assume the old method of starting haying after the Fourth, no 

 matter when we would finish. Five acres of oats and peas and 5 acres 

 of Hungarian and soybeans would require 121 hours or 8 days, fitting 

 into the program after penuanent hay harvest, and follo^ved by 341 

 hours or 21.3 days of corn harvest and silo-filling. Exchange of labor 

 with two neighbors would eliminate need for any additional hired labor 

 at this time. The w'hole 60 acres of roughage could, therefore, be cared 

 for by the two men using approved methods without hiring extra la- 

 bor. This combination reduces the July labor peak to less than 20 

 per cent, of the total roughage labor, and provides roughage with a 

 total digestible nutrient content of 116,650 lbs. to 119,230 lbs., sufficient 

 to care for 39 cows — 10 more than with hay alone. 



If no increase in stock is desired, the combination of roughage, 

 noted above, needed to maintain the 29 head could be grown on 45 

 acres, leaving 15 acres of the 60 to be used either as permanent or as 

 annual pasture. Where good permanent pasture is limited, such a use 

 of land not needed for roughage production presents the opportunity 

 for supplying the cows with pasture and eliminating the necessity for 

 supplementing the small amount of pasture with expensive green feed. 



Apr. May June July Auo Sept. Oct. Nc 



Fig. 6. Percentage distribution of labor on hay, oats hay, Hungarian and 



alfalfa. 



