Show EFFICIENT FEEDING AND LIVESTOCK By Dr Gustav Bohstedt Emeritus Professor of Animal University of Wisconsin Stored Feed Green Feed Or Pasture Which of Ute the three summer feeding shall it be Pasturing our dairy cows or fee feeding ing them at the barn or yard on stored feed or on chopped green feed The answer would vary in indifferent indifferent different parts of the country cO depending on the individual farm set up climate price of farmland r dea and andrt rt r r a other factors tt b f t Stored feed 1 scored the thet highest in use t j 1 i and returns from farm farm- farmland farmland land in eight years of com com- parison at atthe the University UniversIty ty of Wiscon- Wiscon Dr sini sin nth n this i s work the forage consumed by byall all three herds of faIrly large producing high cows was a mixture of alfalfa ladino clover clo- clo clover ver and brome grass With this was fed the necessary grain The first crop of stored forage for for- forage age was cut in late bud and early bloom stage It was crimped wilted to about 63 moisture and stored as grass silage Silage and hay were fed in equal dry matter amounts as much as the cows would eat Green feed was harvested I twice a day cut cot relatively long longwith longwith I with a flail forage harvester Pasturing was by strip gazing moving a fence twice a day then clipping the strIp to reduce re- re reduce duce weed growth and level uneaten stems In these ways storage and feeding losses amounted to 0 35 for strip grazing 9 for stored feeding and I 5 for green feeding Stored feeding under these condItions carried 18 cow Per acre per season green feeding 14 and strip grazing 13 The average milk per acre each season was pounds from stored feeding pounds from green feeding and pounds from strip graz graz- grazing Ing the farm population in the last five years has shrunk from 90 0 9 to less than 7 of the population the size of farms has correspondingly ly increased making the mechanization of harvesting storing and feeding more practicable than before Herds and silos have becom much bigger justifying j load load- loading ing unloading and feeding equipment that would be un un- un with small herds there are ad advocates cate of e each h I I of the systems Thus in west irrigated sections growing south south-I five or more cuttings of alfalfa a year green chopping from nearby fields or hay whether baled or cubed from distant fields might be the preference and for obviously good reasons Question May free choice salt feeding be improved upon er Yes by also having salt in any grain mixture thatis that thatis is being fed In an extensive Borden Company test with dairy cows lasting three months one cow in addition to the one percent I salt in her ber ra- ra ration ration tion ate 60 50 pounds extra salt Another cow also a good pro pro- took ducer-took no extra salt Indi Indi- Individual vidual salt cravings or require require- requirements requirements ments differ It is best to humor cows in thIs respect |