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Show High Quality Hay Cuts Dairy Costs Feed, Labor 80 Percent Of Production Cost Good pasture and high-quality, low-cost hay will cut feed and labor . costs and greatly increase net re- turns for dairymen, declared Tim-1 Tim-1 othy Hodge, Michigan State College i agricultural economist. Hodge estimates that feed and labor expense represents 80 per cent of the cost of keeping a dairy cow. The lower the feed and labor costs can be made, the bigger will be the dairyman's net return. Pasture and hay are the cheapest feed a cow can get. Agronomists re- AMPLE GOOD PASTIME PA5TURE SCAPCE AND HAV AND LOW VOLUME j ""kiet j- "'; RETURN ' " I othk") y. m 1, in ' ' ' COST i OTHEQ i j nil , ' i COST , " LnlL" j FEED AND t : FEED AND '. , " UB0P COST j-ABoa cost ss: sm "., 1 .,, m MILK FROM ONE COW MILK FROM ONE COW The above illustration clearly shows the net retnrns for ample good pasture and hay and returns re-turns when pasture is scarce and of low volume. port that 25 pounds of good alfalfa hay will supply all the protein needed need-ed to produce about 30 pounds of 4 per cent milk daily and furnish calcium, cal-cium, carotene and vitamin D as well Good pasture cuts labor expense, ex-pense, because the cows do the harvesting. har-vesting. Three essentials needed to maintain main-tain good pasture and get maximum returns from pasture crops are: (1) a good legume-grass mixture best adapted to your growing' conditions. (2) a fertile soil that will steadily furnish a well balanced supply of plant foods. Soil tests will show the land's need for lime and for phosphate phos-phate and potash fertilizer. (3) good management which rotates grazing and avoids overworking some areas while others become coarse and unpalatable. Good management man-agement also involves harvesting pasture growth at the peak of its protein value to insure high quality hay. |