4 



BULLETIN 615, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



cows more feed than they could possibly eat. Some were carrying 

 their cows through the winter in fairly good condition at a very 

 low cost, while others were using large quantities of expensive hay 

 and grain, with a resultant heavy winter feed bill. Many of the 

 latter could have greatly reduced the cost of their rations by a 

 judicious substitution of cheaper feeds for some of the more expen- 

 sive ones. 



AVOID FEEDING EXCESSIVE RATIONS. 



That the various rations, which differed widely in kinds of feeds 

 used as well as in quantity given, might be made comparable, all 

 the feeds for these 478 farms were reduced to the " feed unit " basis, 

 in which 1 pound of corn is equivalent to one feed unit. 1 In this 

 system 1 pound of alfalfa equals one-half feed unit, and 1 pound 

 of cottonseed meal makes one and one-quarter feed units. 



Table I. — Effect of varying quantities of 'winter feed on the economic produc- 

 tion of calves. 



Feed units per animal (165 days). 



Under 1,750... 

 1,750 to 2,249. .. 

 2,250 to 2,749. .. 

 2,750 and over . 



All farms 



Number 

 of farms. 



131 



142 

 83 



122 



Average 

 number of 

 units fed. 



1,550 

 2,000 

 2,350 

 3,200 



2,280 



Cost of 



winter feed 



per cow. 



$10.70 

 13. 50 

 18.50 

 21.00 



15.50 



Cost of 



keeping a 



cow one* 



year. 



$29. 00 

 33.50 

 37.20 

 39.60 



34. 50 



Cost of 



calf at 



weaning 



time. 



$30. 00 

 35. 00 

 41.00 

 43.00 



.37.00 



On the basis of the average quantity of feed given to a cow, the 

 records from these 478 farms were divided into four groups. That 

 they might be comparable they also were standardized to a winter 

 feeding period of 165 days, this being the average for all the farms. 

 In the first group, 131 farms (see Table I), the cows were given an 

 average of 1,550 feed units per head during the winter feeding period. 

 The cows in the second group, 142 farms, received an average of 

 2,000 feed units ? while those in the third group were fed an average 

 ■of 2,350 feed units. In the fourth group, 122 farms, an average of 

 3,200 feed units per head was fed during the winter, this being double 

 the amount fed to the cows in the first group. On 30 of the farms in 

 the last group the cows were fed more than 4,300 feed units per head, 

 or nearly three times as much as those in the first group. 



This great variation in the quantity of feed given in the different 

 groups was not due to any especial difference in the kinds of feeds, 

 as the average ration in the four groups contained the same propor- 



1 See " Feeds and Feeding," 16th edition, Henry and Morrison, pp. 126-12S. 



