16 CIRCULAR 905, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
provide feed for only 28.2 cows producing 8,500 pounds of milk each. 
About 125 acres would be required to produce this heavier forage 
ration for 35.3 cows producing 8,500 pounds of milk per cow. 
The crop-rotation and dairy-ration system which supports the larg- 
est number of cows per 100 acres provides higher net returns than the 
system that involves fewer cows, even though it requires a larger 
expenditure of labor and a higher capital investment. The differ- 
ence in net returns is smaller, however, with 1937-41 prices than 
with 1944-48 prices. 
If the risk or uncertainty involved in the forage-grain combination 
which results in the greatest output of milk were greater than for a 
system that supports fewer cows, it still might be wise for some farm- 
ers to follow a system of farming which yields less than the maximum 
output of milk. However, as is shown in a later section of this report, 
the differences in risk and uncertainty in terms of variability of net 
livestock returns among different forage-grain feeding combinations 
would not be important. 
It should be emphasized that the above-mentioned figures related 
to a particular soil type and one level of production per cow. Re- 
turns may differ greatly for other soil types where forage and grain 
substitute at different rates, for dairy cows producing at higher or 
lower levels, or for cows having productive capacities that differ from’ 
those used in this analysis. Also, the above-mentioned analysis is for 
a single livestock enterprise. Many far mers attempt both to combine 
enterprises and to arrange systems of feeding so that reeds and other 
resources can be most efficiently utilized. 
It is true that most farmers have an opportunity to buy and sell 
grain, and that many can also buy or sell forages. Thus many farm- 
ers are not interested in obtaining the maximum livestock product 
from a given area. It may be as well tosell some of their grain as to 
feed it to livestock, or to feed more grain or forage than they produce. 
CAPITAL AND LABOR REQUIREMENTS OF FEED- 
UTILIZATION SYSTEMS 
Data presented in previous sections suggest the nature of feed rela- 
tionships in livestock production, but they do not indicate the labor 
and capital requirements for different feeding systems. In the sections 
that follow, analysis is made of the capital and labor requirements for 
a few of the possible forage-grain combinations for each of several 
classes of livestock. The systems considered are either common in the 
Corn Belt or they present possibilities in the utilization of forage 
crops. A brief description of these systems follows: 
Dairy Cows.—Feed requirements and production of milk for the 
different systems of feeding dairy cows are based on the study of 
input-output relationships in milk production cited on page 45 (8). 
Four forage-grain feed combinations are analyzed. The first com- 
bination consisted of cows on a high-grain ration. They received 40 
percent of their feed (on a dry-weight basis) in the form of grain. 
They produced 399 pounds of butterfat each annually. The second 
combination consisted of cows fed a medium-high grain ration. They 
obtained 30 percent of their feed from grain. These cows produced 
