4 BULLETIN 615, L T . 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 tomter feed on the economic produc- 
tion of calves. 
Feed units per animal (165 days). 
Number 
of farms. 
Average 
number of 
units fed. 
Cost of 
winter feed 
per cow. 
Cost of 
keeping a 
cow one 
year. 
Cost of 
calf at 
weaning 
time. 
Under 1,750 
131 
142 
83 
122 
1,550 
2,000 
2,350 
3,200 
§10.70 
13.50 
18.50 
21.00 
S29.00 
33.50 
37.20 
39.60 
$30. 00 
1,750 to 2,249 
2,250 to 2,749 
35.00 
41.00 
2,750 and over 
43.00 
All farms 
478 
2,280 
15.50 
34.50 
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," 16tb edition, Henry and Morrison, pp. 126-12S. 
