2 CIRCULAR 905, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
hay and pasture. One reason is that they are not sufficiently familiar 
with the results that can -be obtained both from using methods of 
production and harvesting which improve yields and lower costs and 
from feeding rations with higher proportions of good-quality forage. 
Some also hesitate to grow and feed more forages because they lack the . 
additional capital or they are unwilling to take the greater risks that 
would be involved in different systems of farming. 
The purpose of this bulletin is to analyze some of the relationships 
that farmers should consider in deciding how much forage to produce 
and how to use it. Significant aspects of this problem are (a) the 
rate at which forages substitute for other feeds and (0) the labor, 
capital, and risk or uncertainty that are associated with different 
systems of livestock feeding. Substitution relationships in both crop 
rotation and livestock ration are involved. Capital and labor require- 
ments of different systems of feeding are also important because they 
are costs and because many farmers have limited quantities of those 
resources. 
For the farmer who has limited capital, the choice of a method 
of using his forage crops may be a livestock system that will provide 
a relatively high rate of return for a small investment of capital. 
Likewise, a farmer who is not in position to stand great risks may 
prefer a livestock system that promises a steady income from year to 
year, even though it may not provide as high an average return during 
several years as some other system. But a farmer who has ample 
capital is in position to choose the method of utilizing forage crops 
that is likely to give him the highest average returns during a period 
of years, irrespective of the likelihood of large losses in some years. 
Data for this analysis of feed substitution relationships, capital 
and labor requirements, and degree of risk associated with different 
systems of feeding dairy cows, beef cattle, feeder lambs, and hogs 
were obtained from available reports and unpublished information 
on livestock-feeding experiments, previous farm-management studies, 
and price statistics. 
FORAGE-GRAIN SUBSTITUTION RELATIONSHIPS 
RELATIONSHIP OF Crop ENTERPRISES AND FORAGE UTILIZATION 
Forage crops may bear either of two relationships with grain crops. 
They are complementary if an increased acreage of forage causes total 
production of grain to increase from a given area of land. They are 
competitive if a greater acreage and production of forage is possible 
only as production of grain is sacrificed on a given area of land. 
These two relationships are illustrated in the data of table 1, which 
are based on rotation experiments. As the last three columns show, 
some combinations of hay and grain produce more pounds of grain 
than grain crops alone on 100 acres of the two soil types included. 
But a further extension of the acreage of forage results in a decrease 
in total production of grain. The Ohio data show that not only does 
forage become competitive with grain but each additional increase 
in the output of forage results in a greater decrease in the total 
production of grain. 
