FIFTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION 19 



the winter months. In many parts of the country the dairy- 

 man has more time in winter to do the extra work connected 

 with their feed and care. It is also true that fall-freshening 

 cows are dry at the time of year when field work is gen- 

 erally greatest. 



Feed Cost. 



The cost of roughage was about the same regardless of 

 the season of freshening, but there was a considerable dif- 

 ference in the cost of grain. Table 5 shows how the four 

 seasons ranked on average cost of grain per cow; that is, 

 the year's cost of grain for cows of the different seasons. 

 TABLE 5. — Seasons when cows freshened ranked according to cost of 

 grain required for the year's feed. 



Number of times ranked 

 Season of freshening First Second Third Fourth 



Spring 6 5 12 41 



Summer 9 15 23 15 - 



Fall . 44 14 5 1 



Winter -__ 5 30 24 5 



In 44 of the 64 associations fall freshening ranked first 

 in cost of grain to feed a cow a year and in only one of the 

 64 associations did the fall-freshening cows rank fourth in 

 cost of grain. On an average the cost of grain was highest 

 for the cows that freshened in the fall (see Table 1), next 

 highest for those that freshened in the winter, and lowest 

 for those that freshened in the spring. The average cost 

 of grain per cow was lowest in 41 of the 64 associations for 

 the cows that freshened in the spring. 



As the cost of roughage for the year was about the 

 same regardless of the date of freshening, the total cost of 

 feed varied approximately according to the cost of grain. 

 Table 6 shows how the seasons ranked on total cost of feed. 



TABLE 6. — Seasons when cows freshened ranked according to total 



cost of feed. 



Number of times ranked 

 Season of freshening First Second Third Fourth 



Spring 8 5 11 40 



Summer . 9 14 24 15 



Fall 42 18 3 1 



Winter 5 27 26 6 



