30 
BULLETIN 1400, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Table 26 shows the relation between the average production per 
cow and the value of the feed consumed (exclusive of pasturage) per 
hundredweight of milk produced. Since the cows received about 
the same quantity of pasturage on most of these farms, the table 
would not oe much different it a charge for pasturage had been in- 
cluded. Although high production alone did not insure economical 
production, since other factors also were concerned, this table shows 
that in general there was a definite relation between the production 
per cow and the feed cost per hundredweight of milk, the cows with 
high production generally producing at lowest cost. 
Table 26. — Herds classified according to the average production of milk per 
and the value of feed consumed per 100 pounds of milk 
cow 
Average production, in 
pounds of milk per cow 
Number of herds with specified value of feed consumed per 100 pounds of 
milk produced '—in dollars 
0.40 
to 
0.60 
0.60 
to 
0.80 
0.80 
to 
1.00 
1.00 
to 
1.20 
1.20 
to 
1.40 
1.40 
to 
1.60 
1.60 
to 
1.80 
1.80 
to 
2.00 
2.00 
to 
2.20 
2.20 
to 
2.40 
2.40 
to 
2.60 
All 
herds 
3,000 to 4,000-. . 
5 
11 
25 
26 
21 
6 
1 
6 
16 
24 
19 
14 
3 
3 
12 
18 
9 
1 
2 
4 
10 
5 
5 
3 
4 
7 
4 
1 
22 
4,000 to 5,000 
4 
9 
19 
15 
8 
..... 
1 
1 
2 
..... 
1 
1 
1 
62 
5,000 to 6,000 
2 
2 
8 
2 
4 
4 
2 
98 
6,000 to 7,000_ 
86 
7,000 to 8,000 
58 
8,000 to 9,000 
23 
9,000 to 10.000 
1 
1 
5 
10,000 to 11,000 
1 
11,000 to 12,000 
1 
1 
Total 
5 
21 
56 
95 
82 
45 
28 
16 
4 
2 
2 
356 
1 Includes farms producing butter. 
There is a definite tendency for the feed cost per 100 pounds of 
milk to be lower as the milk production per cow is higher. Few 
dairies with average production of less than 5,000 pounds per cow 
produced milk at less than $1 per hundredweight for feed. Yet the 
relation is not verv close — dairies wjih average productions between 
6,000 and 7,000 pounds ranged from less than $0.60 to over $2.20 
in feed cost. 14 
The ability of some cows to produce more milk from the same 
quantity of feed is evidently not the most important factor deter- 
mining the feed cost per 100 pounds. 
Study of the records from this area showed that the quantity and 
quality of the feed that the cow received had a very important 
effect upon the feed cost of milk production, and upon the operator's 
earnings. Feeding a properly balanced ration was found to be very 
important; cows receiving rations that did not accord with recog- 
nized good feeding practice produced at high cost. 
This may be illustrated by comparing the milk which would prob- 
ably be produced by feeding average cows different rations, based upon 
the average production from different feeds shown by the farm records. 
Start with a ration of 1 ton of clover hay, 1 ton of alfalfa hay and 
2,000 pounds of corn for each cow in a year. That would be about 
11 pounds of corn and 22 pounds of hay per cow per day for the 
winter season. This ration, containing only 282 pounds of true 
digestible protein, would have 3,344 therms of net energy. The 
records from the farms studied show that with such a ration and 
with average Chester County pasturage, cows of the average quality 
produced about 4,100 pounds of milk in a year. 
14 The correlation is r=-0.41. 
