Show FARM TOPICS ILU FEED RECORDS REVEAL COSTS lead the way to improving farming practices by S B CLELAND extension specialist in farm management university farm st paul the farmer who wants to study his farm business should not overlook the importance of good records of feed consumption by his live stock along with the cash and the crop records the information on feed use will help show the way to improvement in practices from year to year records of feed consumption are usually kept on groups of live stock rather than on individual animals in practice the operator observes carefully the amount of feed used in a day and on this basis estimates the quantity fed in a month in the record book one page is assigned d to each class of live stock with different columns for the different kinds of feed it is a good plan to check once in a while on the estimates by comparing the total feed recorded with the amounts of feed that have been actually used by placing a value on his feed as he goes along the farmer can readily figure his feed results in cost per pound of gain for meat animals and cost per unit produced by dairy herds in order to study his feed records intelligently the operator must have standards with which to compare his own results cow testing records supply convenient yardsticks for the dairyman operative cooperative co farm management groups use the average for the association in the various classifications ficat ions files of the county agents office usually contain records of various feeding trials which afford good standards for comparison the farmer who wishes to evaluate his records can do so conveniently by consulting the county agent and assembling sem bling a set of standards applicable to his own type of farming |