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STATION BULLETIN 387
JITNE I95I

Efficiency

^n the

AGRICIILTURAL EXJflRlilENT STATION

llNIVERS^r* OF NEW HAMPSHIRE |f . ^*'...

DUrAaM, N. J9.

Uk'f^ik..

This is the fourth in a series of pubHcations by Uni-
versity of New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion researchers on the subject of efficient chore practices
in the dairy barn. Others have been :

Part I. Choree Travel in Dairy Barns by John C.
Holmes. Station Circular 72 (1945).

Part 11. Rapid Milking by Harry C. Woodworth, Ken-
neth S. Morrow, and John C. Holmes. Station Circular 76
(1947).

Part HI. The Problem of Slow Milking Cows by Harry
C. Woodworth, Kenneth S. Morrow, and Earl M. Elliott.
Station Circular 80 (1949).

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chore Tasks

III

Seasonal Differences in Chore Schedules

Organization for Chores

Milking

. 14

Feeding

VII

Cleaning and Sanitation . . . .

VIII

Miscellaneous Chores ....

Chore Schedules

Barn Design .....

Calves

. 14

XII

Young Stock

XIII

Application of Study to Typical Farms

XIV

Appendix I

Appendix II

XVI

Summary .......

EFFICIENCY

IN THE

DAIRY BARN

by Harry C. Woodworth

Professor of Agricultural Econovtics

and

Kenneth S. Morrow

Professor of Dairy Husbandry

I Ini-roduction

Objective

This study was initiated to explore
the possibilities of increasing the ef-
fectiveness of labor in doing chore
work in dairy barns. There was evi-
dence from previous studies* that
chore work accounted for a large
proportion of the total work hours.
This large labor requirement tended
to be a barrier or bottleneck in limit-
ing total output of the farm. The
major objective was to eliminate or
lower these barriers to larger produc-
tion by developing better practices,
thus raising the efficiency of the en-
tire dairy farm enterprise. It was
expected that greater efficiency in do-
ing cei'tain chores would enable the
operator to readjust his farm or-
ganization, increase the total output
per man, and raise his net income.

Importance of Chore Efficiency

The management of specialized
dairy farms has become very com-
plex. Operators faced with high

* UNH Agricultural Experiment Station
Bulletin 275 (1933), Efficiency Studies in
Dairy Farming by H. C. Woodworth, C. W.
Harris, Jr., and Emil Rauchenstein.

UNH Agricultural Experiment Station
Bulletin 322 (1940), Farm Organization and
Management in the Colebrook Area, by H. C.
Woodworth and Arna Hangas.

In 1931 and 1932, an average of 132 hours
per cow were spent on dairy chores and 25
hours directly on producing the roughage
consumed per cow. Approximately 60 per
cent of the time actually devoted to operat-
ing the farm was spent in doing dairy chores.

wage rates and a scarcity of avail-
able short period labor have been
forced to plan their enterprises
around their available regular labor.
Due to the varying seasonal labor re-
quirements for both crops and dairy
barn chores, the effective allocation of
the available labor and its efficient use
throughout the year is difficult but
very important. Efficient chore work
is an important segment in the or-
ganization of the farm as a whole.
Daily chores account for over half the
total man days on specialized dairy
farms. Where they are done effi-
ciently, there is more time available
for field work.

Balance of Operations

On specialized dairy farms in New
Hampshire, the field work is concen-
trated on the production of roughage
for the dairy herd. There is a man-
agement problem of balancing the size
of the herd with the amount of
roughage available and also of equal-
izing the labor load to some extent be-
tween the seasons of roughage pro-
duction and the period of winter
chores. The labor that produces the
roughage usually must do the work
on the livestock that consumes the
roughage. Improvements in chore
practices have not kept pace with
progress in field crop production and
this lag tends to further unbalance

r-
J

-I
I
I

WORK IN FIELDS, WOODLOT, OCCASIONAL CHORES, OR MISCELLANEOUS

Average
Man Hours
Per Week

140 —
120 —
100 —

80 —

60 —

40 —

20 —

Nov I Dec I Jan I Feb I Mar I Apr I May I June I July I Aug

Fig. 1. On specialized dairy farms, efficient chore work is as important as
efficiency of field operations. It enables the operator to enlarge his
dairy herd and increase the total output from the farm.

Sep

seasonal labor requirements and to
handicap the efficient organization of
the dairy enterprise as an economic
unit. For instance, the operator who
has doubled the output of roughage
per man in the last 10 years and yet
made no progress on chore work finds
it impossible to work out an efficient
production unit. Similarly, the lack
of progress in chore work holds back
the output of the farm. In certain
competing areas, the operator has the
alternative of allocating a portion of
his resources to cash crops and can
easily tailor the amount of roughage
production to the livestock on his
farm. Most New Hampshire dairy-
men do not have this opportunity for
cash crop production and must place
gi-eater emphasis on balancing rough-
age and livestock.

Much of the progress in the effi-
ciency of crop production has come
about from the adoption of new ma-
chines. The operator tends to pur-
chase progress in increased output
per man hour when he buys the ma-
chine. He has to make many read-
justments, to be sure, but change in
procedure is made easy by the novel-
ty of the new machine. In contrast,
while progress in chore work involves
some mechanization and the use of

new gadgets, it is more dependent up-
on simplification of tasks, reorganiza-
tion of work procedures, remodeling
of barns to reduce travel, the ability
of the operator to drop old routines
and habits, and the will to concen-
trate on carrying out new procedures
and new timing sequences. These
are more difficult to achieve than
merely buying a machine. Yet in
modern competitive dairying they are
essential.

Hours of Labor Per Day

Historically, milk production has
been associated with long hours of
labor. The very nature of the enter-
prise has made adjustment to the
more reasonable hours of daily labor
and for days off for the operator and
the hired help difficult to achieve. La-
bor requirements in dairy chores tend
to be confining and inflexible. Certain
chore tasks. not only need to be done
seven days a week, but must be ac-
complished within rather narrow lim-
its of time. Thus the problem is more
complex than the total man hours in-
dicate. There is a need to fit the
chore work into a schedule and a time
sequence within the limitations of the
available labor. If the labor re-

quired for the chore work is budgeted
too closely to the available labor, the
difficulty of arranging for days off
or of handling emergency situations
may be intensified.

While this report stresses efficiency
of labor and output, it suggests that
these chore schedules be fitted into a
pattern consistent with the modern
concept of reasonable hours of labor
and provision for days off occasion-
ally. Labor in industry and the serv-
ices is mostly on a 40 to 44-hour week.
The dairyman, working at home and
with some leeway in the middle of the
day, might consider a 60-hour week
as somewhat in line with other labor
groups.

Some part of the benefits accruing
from more efficient chore work should
be applied to the betterment of work-
ing conditions for dairymen and their
helpers. This is a difficult problem
to work out on the individual farm,
but it is thought that a trend by all
dairymen in the direction of greater
conformity to the work pattern of
modern life is essential to the long-
run welfare of the dairy industry.

If we assume a program of 60 work
hours per week for each worker, the
operator of a two-man farm must
place his activities most of the year
on the basis of this limitation in avail-
able labor. It is recognized that
emergencies and special seasonal sit-
uations will arise in which the work-
ers will need to put in long hours for
short periods.

Inflexibility of Cerfain Tasks

A major characteristic of dairy
barn chores is the large proportion
of the total tasks and also the total
work load that must be performed
within definite periods of time. The
inflexibility of the routine and rigid
sequence of chores results in peaks of
labor requirements during each day.
On a large dairy, the winter chores
may be accomplished with 10 man

hours of labor, but since most of the
tasks are done at the beginning and
end of the day, two men must be
available every day at these peak pe-
riods. In providing sufficient labor
for these peak periods, there occurs
on many farms a surplus of labor or
under-employed labor at other times,
particularly if the farm, as organized,
aft'ords no alternative productive em-
ployment.

Due to these inflexible labor re-
quirements for specific chores and the
resulting peak labor load at the be-
ginning and end of the day, an ef-
fective schedule for chore work and
the efficient use of labor within the
framework of a 60-hour week is very
difficult to achieve. Attention has
been given throughout this study to
the possibility of developing greater
flexibility in labor requirements for
chores, in order that the operator can
use his available labor more advan-
tageously and also more easily ar-
range for days off. On many farms,
greater flexibility in chore labor will
also permit the operator to have more
leeway in accomplishing other produc-
tive work, such as work in the wood-
lot.

Emphasis on Future Practices

The emphasis in this study has been
to project the chore practices into the
future rather than merely reporting
present practices. It is recognized
that few can quickly attain all the
efficiencies. Present barn structures
cannot be completely ignored al-
though progress toward good prac-
tices often depends upon improve-
ments in layout by remodeling at con-
siderable expense. Then, too, most
operators cannot make all the adjust-
ments in practices overnight. The in-
dividual has to train himself and his
helpers to new procedures. Several
years may elapse before he can eco-
nomically cull out slow milkers and
substitute easy milkers. He has to

make a few improvements and get
oriented before he is able to effectively
take additional steps. If the sugges-
tions made in this bulletin seem be-
yond practical reality to a particular
individual, perhaps he can make a
few changes now in the direction of
greater efficiency and then after a few
years he can visualize his future farm
organization with a different perspec-
tive. Since the purpose of the study
was to project, if possible, pi-actices
into the future, the discussion neces-
sarily has been beyond immediate re-
ality to many dairymen. It may in-
dicate direction and stimulate obser-
vation of present methods and of pos-
sibilities of improvement.

In examining each task, or a seg-
ment of a task, and in raising ques-
tions such as — Is it essential? Can it
be eliminated or simplified? — the au-
thors were confronted with complex
problems involving dairy technology,
sanitation, health of animals, produc-
tion, and most economic production.
In many cases, very little or no data
were available upon which to formu-
late decisions. Practical dairymen
have strong opinions about the ef-
fect of certain practices and yet oc-
casionally one or more dairymen have
changed or eliminated such practices
and seem to have maintained produc-
tion. An attempt has been made to
proceed on a forward looking basis,
obtaining the advice of dairy tech-
nologists, practical dairymen, and
others, and avoiding as far as pos-
sible the bias due to habit and custom.

Sf-anchion Type Barns

The study was confined to chore
practices in conventional stanchion
type barns. In doing so, there was
no intent to make comparisons or
draw conclusions with respect to pen
type and stanchion type barns for
New Hampshire. There has been
little opportunity in this state to ob-
serve chore work in pen type barns

operating under normal farm condi-
tions. The problem of a satisfactory
and abundant bedding material has
restrained farmers from developing
the pen type of housing for their
cows. A few, however, are housing
their older heifers and even a few
dry cows loose in pens. This practice
seems to work out satisfactorily and is
discussed under Young Stock in Chap-
ter XII.

Relation f-o New Hampshire
Farms

The analysis of the problem has
been directed quite largely to large
dairy enterprises. The basic data
were collected from farms with 20 to
55 cows and have been adjusted to a
40-cow basis for comparison. The
suggested schedules have been pointed
toward a 40-cow farm. The authors
of this bulletin recognize that most
of the present herds on specialized
farms are small.* They are deeply
concerned about the prospects and fu-
ture of the small specialized dairy-
man who depends on 8 to 10 cows for
his living. They are sensitive to the
ever-widening gap in efficiency, in
output of milk per worker, and in net
income between the small operator
and the man who has followed a sound
program of expansion to use re-
sources to greater advantage.

However, they feel that an expan-
sion to large volume of output and
adoption of modern methods is essen-
tial to the continuation of the dairy

* UNH Agricultural Experiment Station
Bulletin 340 (1942), Dairy Opportunitij Areas
in New Hamijshire by Harry C. Woodworth
and John C. Holmes. Assuming that the
9115 farms reporting less than six cows in
the 1943 tax assessment were noncommercial
dairies, the 3818 farms reporting 6 cows or
more were distributed as follows. :

Pei'centage of commercial
Size of herd No. of farms dairy fa-rms

6 to 10 1839 48.2

11 to 15 956 25.0

16 to 20 492 12.9

Over 20 531 13.9

3818 100.0

There has been a definite trend in increase of
farms with over 20 cows, but no estimates of
the distribution in 1950 are now available.

Minutes
800

700
600
500
400
300
200
100

1 23456789
Farm Number

Fig. 2. Man minutes spent on daily
cow chores on nine farms in
1942. (Data from each farm
are adjusted to a 40-cow ba-
sis; 35 cows milking.) Care
of milk and milking equip-
ment is not included.

enterprise in this state. It is hoped
that the pointing of the analysis to-
ward large dairy enterprises will be
helpful to the small operators in ad-
justing to a larger volume of output.
They will probably need a larger herd
of cows for even a modest income in
the years ahead. After all, the spe-
cialized dairyman will have to be ef-
ficient in the production of his one
specialized product. How the study
can be applied to small farms is dis-
cussed in Chapter VIII.

How Study Was Carried Out

The first step in this study was the
observation of present chore practices
on successful, well-managed dairy
farms. The farms were selected on
the basis of expectation of an op-
portunity of witnessing efficient
chore work. The procedure was not
to describe the industry through a
random sample, but rather to search
for the most efficient practices where-
ever they could be found. Wherever
data are stated regarding present

practices, they should be associated
with conditions on a few hand-picked
farms.

The information collected included
stop watch records of each worker's
performance for one entire day and
descriptions of efficient methods of
doing each task. The most efficient
practices were noted, and individual
dairymen were encouraged to find
ways and means of improving even
their best practices. The leaders of
this project helped devise new meth-
ods for doing essential tasks.

Practices and chore schedules were
studied. The various tasks were
fitted together synthetically, and then
checked as far as possible on a lim-
ited number of farms. The first year,
nine farms were studied in detail. In
the following years, all chore activi-
ties were observed on five lai"ge ef-
ficiently-operated farms and one or
more chores were studied on a large
group. (See Figs. 2 and 3.) For
instance, milking was observed on ap-
proximately 50 farms and records
from an additional 100 farms were
made available from the University
of New Hampshire Extension Serv-

Minutes
600

500
400
300
200
100

MISC.
CLEANING

FEEOINS

MILKING

12 3 4 5

Form Number

Fig. 3. Man minutes spent on daily
cow chores on five farms in
1948, computed on the same
basis as in Fig. 2.

ice in Agriculture and Home Econom-
ics. At a later period in this study,
a brief summary of 38 large dairy
farms was made to obtain special
data with reference to sequence in
doing chores and procedures in wash-
ing and caring for equipment. The
search for better methods has ex-
tended to interviewing a few county
agents, grain store men, and machin-
ery dealers for reference to farms
where special care in handling grain
or doing chores efficiently have been
observed. These observations were
followed up and in a few cases de-
scriptions of chore procedures were
made.

It became apparent in the early
stages of the project that greater im-
mediate assistance could be rendered
dairy producers by concentrating on
milking operations. Farmers were

very short of help at that time and
the task of milking accounted for
about half of the total chore hours.
Information was made available to
the Extension Service from time to
time. Three UNH Agricultural Ex-
periment Station Circulars dealing
with these phases of the study have
been published under the general
heading of Efficient Dairy Chore
Practices* This bulletin is the last
in the series of research publications
in the study. It deals mostly with
dairy chores other than milking.

* Part I. Station Circular 72 (1945), Chore
Travel in Dairy Barns by John C. Holmes.

Part II. Station Circular 76 (1947), RaqM
Milking by Harry C. Woodworth, Kenneth S.
Morrow, and John C. Holmes.

Part III. Station Circular 80 (1949), The

Problem of Slow Milking Cows by Harry C.

Woodworth, Kenneth S. Morrow, and Earl
M. Elliott.

II Chore Tasks

Daily Chores

Twenty-one daily chore tasks were
observed. Some of these were per-
formed several times a day on all
farms and a few were not done at
all by a few operators.

For convenience in the study of
chores, the 21 tasks were classified
into four groups:

1. Milking

a. Milking

b. Care of milk

c. Equipment

2. Feeding

Hay preparation
Hay feeding
Silage preparation
Silage feeding
Grain preparation

f. Grain feeding

g. Miscellaneous material feed prepara-
tion
Miscellaneous material feeding

Pushing feed back to mangers
Sweep of clean mangers

3. Cleaning

a. Manure disposal

b. Hoe to gutter

c. Sweep gutter alleyway

d. Bedding preparation

e. Bedding distribution

f. Spreading superphosphate

4. Miscellaneous

a. Cows "in and out"

b. Currying

Occasional Chores

In addition to the daily chores
listed above, many other tasks are
performed occasionally. A partial
list of these follows:

1. Supplies

a. Hauling grain or helping truckers
b.

in loading grain

Hauling sawdtist and storing for
bedding
c. Counting, wrapping, and shipping
empty grain bags

Operating barn facilities and
equipment

a. Observing, cleaning, and adjusting
water bowls

b. Adjusting ventilators, windows, etc.

c. Cleaning vacuum air line

d. Overhauling milking equipment

e. Shovelling snow or plowing snow
to clear doorways

f. Cleaning windows and ceilings

g. Spraying barn

Health and sanitation

a. Giving attention to cows and calves
at calving time

b. Doctoring sick cows

c. Working on swollen or damaged
udders

d. Spraying cows

4, Herd management

a. Observing animals

b. Studying breeding program

c. Breeding cows or heifers

d. Figuring rations

e. Attaching salt blocks to stanchion

f. Clipping cows

g. Rearranging cows

h. Selling and buying cows
i. Training first calf heifers
j. Driving cows to and from pasture

Maintenance and Other Tasks

Dairymen do other work in barns
in the process of keeping up the
equipment and barn facilities. These
tasks might be classified as overhead.
They may not be directly productive

but are essential in the long run.

1. Repair of stanchions, doors and
windows

2. Thawing frozen pipes, repairing
water pipes

The main attention of this study
has been directed toward the daily
chores, but because it was realized
that occasional chores take a large
amount of the farmer's time, esti-
mates were obtained on a few farms.
These data are discussed in Chap-
ter VIII.

Ill Seasonal Differences in Chore Schedules

With the exception of milking, in-
cluding care of equipment, dairy
chores and the hours of labor required
vary seasonally. During the winter,
when cows are confined in stanchions,
an intensive job of caring for the
cows, feeding- the cows, and cleaning
the barn must be done. In the pas-
ture season, the cows are in the barn
only a brief time for the morning
and night milking and fewer chores
need to be performed daily. In New
Hampshire there is usually about a
month in the fall (October) and a
month in the spring (April) when
cows are not on pasture, but can be
outside part of the time.

For convenience in analysis, three
seasonal chore periods were taken as
representative of the year:

1. Winter — five months: Novem-
ber, December, January, Febru-
ary, March.

2. Summer — five months: May,
June, July, August, September.

3. Fall and spring — ^two months:
October and April.

This grouping of chore periods
gives more emphasis to the fall and
spring than actually obtains on most
New Hampshire dairy farms. How-
ever, an analysis of the situation in
these short periods seemed important
because of the possibilities of consid-
erable saving of time on chores by
special adjustments. This would re-
lease labor for greater progress in
fall and spring field work. (See Fig-
ure 1.)

The main emphasis of this study
is on chore work in the five winter
months, but modifications have been
made for the summer pasture season
and for the fall and spring periods.
These are given special attention in
Chapter IX in developing chore
schedules for the several seasons.

MILKING WORK CENTER

Empty Shipping Cans
/

Cooler

btur

CLEANING WORK CENTER

V Sawdust Cart under

V overhead storage outlet

cows FACE IN

Xl I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

xx-*^Two Hay Forks here

Manure

Corrier

Barn
Cleaner

SILO

wmr

Grain Cart under overhead grain outlet
DUn ^ ■*^~ Entrance to Hay Mow
"■^Ll-.~J^.— — cStored Sacks special Grain

'If Beet Pulp fed wet have watertight container in cart
Twin Siloge Carts under silo chute

FEEDING WORK CENTER

Fig. 4. A plan for three work centers. Each chore begins and ends at a
work center.

IV Organization for Chores

Observation of chore work in dairy
barns indicates the impoi'tance of
over-all chore management plans. In
some barns there was considerable
confusion, workers unnecessarily-
traveling from one end of the barn to
the other. A lack of integration of
activities of the different workers re-
sulted in periods of under-employ-
ment of one or more individuals. At
times, workers under-employed at the
moment did tasks that were not es-
sential. As an example, one worker
pushed hay to the cows several times
in a period of 15 minutes. He did
this merely because he had to wait
frequently for the other man.

Efficient low labor cost chore work
depends on the adequacy and location
of facilities, integration and sequence

of chore tasks, and general manage-
ment of workers, as well as simplified
work procedure in doing each task.
Two important basic chore manage-
ment principles have been suggested
by several research studies.*

1. Plan chore activities around
definite work centers.

2. Arrange layout so that chores
can be done by circular travel. The
conditions under which these prin-
ciples can be applied may not be easily
or economically attained in present
dairy barns. But in most instances,
if the operator understands the basic
philosophy back of these principles,
he can improve his present chore sit-
uation by partial conformity.

* Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station
Bulletin 503 (1943). Saving Through Farm
Job Analysis by R. M. Carter.

Work Centers

Three work centers are suggested:
milking work center, feeding work
center, and cleaning work center.
(See Fig. 4.)

Milking naturally centers about the
milk house, and on most farms all
major tasks related to milking, care
of milk, cleaning, and maintenance of
milking equipment begin and end at
the milk house.

The feeding work center can be an
area including the silos, the grain
room, and the entrance to the hay
storage. Silage carts, silage forks,
grain carts, grain scoops, and hay
forks have a definite and convenient
storage place within the area. All
major feeding chores begin and end
at the feed work center. The equip-
ment or tool used is taken from its
definite storage place and returned to
that place to complete the task. This
eliminates loss of time in looking for
tools. If the next task in sequence
for the individual worker is associated

with that woi-k center, the new task
begins without undue travel.

In case all the feed operations can-
not be grouped in one area, two feed
work centers may need to be used,
each one more or less independent as
far as facilities, equipment, and tools
are concerned.

The cleaning work center is usually
the area near the outlet for manure
disposal. For instance, the vicinity
of the doorway where the manure
carrier is pushed out of the barn can
be made the cleaning work center.
Major tasks involving disposal of ma-
nure and cleaning gutter alleyways
will begin and end at this center.
Equipment and tools used in clean-
ing would be located there. Since
bedding cows usually follows the
cleaning operations, the inclusion of
storage for bedding and a definite
place for the carts and tools used in
spreading will be a convenience. On
account of sanitation and disease con-
trol, the cleaning work center can well
be more isolated and the equipment

Fig. 5. A conveniently located milk house, constructed as an addition to the
barn.

and tools never used for other pur-
poses. Operators occasionally inter-
rupt whatever task they are doing to
hoe the soil back of individual cows
into the gxitter. This can be held to
a minimum, but several hoes can be
stored at convenient places for occa-
sional use without undue travel.

Having developed these definite
work centers, the sequence of chore
tasks and the work schedule of the
men can be reorganized so that each
man can operate from one center for
a considerable time, thus curtailing
travel from one work center to an-
other. In a large barn, this may re-
quire the assignment of a definite
work schedule to each man so that
each may confine himself for a long-
er period to the chores associated with
one work center.

Dairy barn chore work is associated
with biological processes] of the cows,
and the nature of the tasks necessar-
ily requires considerable jumping
from one task to another and occa-
sionally the interruption of one task
to do another. Much time and travel
can be avoided if this can be held to
a minimum by well-planned work

schedules. Definite work schedules
for each man provide an opportunity
for each man to work productively
during the chore period. For instance,
in the period after breakfast, one
worker might do all the tasks asso-
ciated with the cleaning work center
and the other all the forenoon tasks
associated with the feeding center.
Workers could exchange schedules by
weeks or days if they prefer. But on
a given day each has a definite job,
and while working in the same barn,
they are not in each other's way nor
attempting to use the same equipment
or tools. Each is doing tasks that
one man can do to better advantage
than two. There is a better sanitary
situation because of fewer trips from
the cleaning work center and areas
back of the cows to the feeding work
center and areas in front of the cows.
A convenient arrangement to re-
duce travel from one work center to
another and to have favorable sani-
tary conditions is to locate the feed-
ing and milk centers at one end, but at
opposite sides of the barn and the
cleaning center at the far end of the
barn.

Tools used in the cleaning work centers are in their places. There is
no walking from one end of the barn to the other for tools.

Fig. 7. The operator has provided a dehnite place in the feeding vvorli center
for each cart used in feeding. One cart is never in the way of other
activities.

The chore work schedules can then
be organized so that all cleaning op-
erations, except the occasional hoeing
back of a cow, are done at one period
by one man, thus involving only lim-
ited travel to and from the cleaning
work center. The transfer of a
worker's activity from feeding to
milking center would involve only
travel the width of the barn.

In one barn individual tasks were
done efficiently, but the chore records
indicated that the man walked 1300
feet daily in traveling from one job
to another. With minor changes in
chore schedules this could be reduced
to 600 feet.

Operators are installing carts for
transporting feed and bedding. Ob-
servations indicate the importance of
special storage space (See Fig. 7)
where these can be available (either
loaded ready for use or empty) and
yet not in the way of other chore
work. On one farm, for instance, the
operator had to move a grain cart
out of the way before he could com-
plete the feeding of silage and later
had to move the silage cart in order
not to interfere with grain feeding.

The development of a few work
centers for doing chores enables the

operator to take advantage of im-
proved chore schedules to cut travel,
and to simplify placement of tools and
equipment.

While these three main work cen-
ters are suggested, other satisfactory
arrangements are possible. Thus on
several farms, the storage place for
bedding could not be located at the
manure disposal end of the barn be-
cause of the difficulty of putting saw-
dust into it. One operator built his
sawdust storage in the feed work cen-
ter area. This arrangement may not
be ideal, but it is workable and prac-
tical.

Circular Travel

The arrangement of stalls and
alleyways to permit the doing of
chores by traveling in a circle as
shown in Fig. 8, enables the operator
to begin and end most chore tasks at
the work center with a minimum of
back travel. The tools and equip-
ment needed for a task are back in
place and the worker is prepared to
start the next job. Grain is fed in
one trip around the cows or up and
back along the feed alley. Bedding
is distributed in one trip around the
gutter alleyway. One trip with a

GRAIN CART TRAVEL

Fig. 8.

MINIMI

II I I I I II I

Cows Face Out

I II II I II I M M I M 11

Grain Cart

A diagram of circular travel,
gins and ends at the feed work
for the next feeding.

silage cart completes the task except
in very large herds where two or more
cart loads of silage are needed for one
feeding. Even in such cases, the
travel of each cart may be in a circle.
Arrangements for circular travel

Note that the labor on this task be-
center. The grain cart is in position

add to and support the effective-
ness of good work centers, and well
designed and well located work cen-
ters enable the operator to take great-
er advantage of circular travel effi-
ciencies.

V Milking

Milking, washing and care of milk-
ing equipment, and the care of the
milk house usually require over half
the total man hours spent on daily
chores on cows during the winter. In
the pasture season this accounts for
about 80 per cent of the total.

Milking

The milking phase of this study has
been reported in Experiment Station
Circulars 76 and 80 and so only a few
summary comments on efficient milk-
ing will be made in this bulletin. Over
a period of time, the herd should be

selected on the basis of good milking
characteristics so that all cows will
be milked quickly by machine and
without hand stripping. On a few
farms studied, from 10 to 20 per cent
of the cows were milked by hand. On
others, a few cows required over 10
minutes of machine milking. Good
milking characteristics should be one
of the major qualifications in select-
ing animals for the herd. If all ani-
mals in the herd can be machine
milked in 4 minutes or less, the oper-
ator can carry on the task of milking
efficiently.

The layout and the equipment
should favor quick disposal of the
milk. The operator needs to get back
to the cows as soon as possible. Fail-
ure to begin machine stripping with-
in 3 to 31/^ minutes after machines are
attached was found to be the major
barrier to good milking. To avoid
delay, the milk receiving equipment
should be prepared before milking be-
gins, as in Fig. 9. The 10-gallon
milk shipping cans should be in posi-
tion to receive milk and the covers
loosened. Two large strainers should
be assembled and in position ready
for milk on two of the 10-gallon cans.
The operator can carry two pails,
holding approximately 13 quarts of
milk each, on each trip. He can
empty a pail in each of the strainers
and return to the stable. Three trips
will approximately fill the two cans
and on the fourth trip the strainers
can be transferred to the next two
cans. Under these conditions a trip
to the milk house will require from
0.5 to 0.8 minutes.

The operators should train them-
selves to concentrate during the brief
milking period to follow whatever
definite pattern is most feasible for
their situation. An average man, if
trained, can milk normal cows at the
rate of 3 man minutes or less per
cow per milking. In fact, records as
low as 2.1 man minutes per cow per
milking were indicated. Efficient
rapid milking procedure requires con-
centration and self discipline in fol-
lowing a definite sequence. If the
operator is overtired, is not concen-
trating, or is disturbed by \isitors, he
may fail to follow through and be-
come involved in time consuming sit-
uations. Observations indicate that
most men cannot carry on a conver-
sation and concentrate on milking at
the same time. A five-minute rest
period just before milking may be a
profitable use of time on some farms.
The man is then better prepared to

concentrate on this definite task of
milking. The rest period emphasizes
the importance of the task. For de-
tailed information on milking, see Ex-
periment Station Circulars 76 and 80.

Fig. 9. This shows a good arrange-
ment of shipping cans before
milking. Note that seven 10-
gallon shipping cans have
been arranged in a semi-
circle, the covers loosened
and two large strainers sub-
stituted for covers on two
cans. The mallet for loosen-
ing cans is on the milk
cooler. The supply of empty
cans are tiered up in the cor-
ner. The operator ordinarily
poured milk from the center
of the room, but moved to the
wall to show the strainers
when the picture was taken.

Care of Milk

The care of the milk on wholesale
milk farms consists of making the can
covers secure and putting the cans
into the cooler tank. In hot weather
the operators try to get the cans into
coolers as soon as they are full, but
usually there is some leeway as to
when they are put in. Since the ship-
ping cans are in position near the
coolers before the milking begins, the
operator can secure the can cover,

lift the cooler box cover, lift the 10-
gallon can of milk, and place it in
the water. If the recommendations
for carrying milk from the stables
are followed, two 10-gallon cans will
be filled in three trips to the milk
house. On the next trip, the strain-
ers would be moved to the next empty
cans in line and the covers secured on
the filled cans. At this time or on
the next trip to the milk house, the
two cans can be placed in the cooler
in .2 man minutes. The task is easier
where the cooler tank is at a lower
level and thus the can has to be
raised only a few inches from the
floor. The displacement of water
eases the weight in lowering the can
to the bottom. Where the cooler is

on the same floor level as the milk
house a raised platform with steps
is used, but more time and greater
physical burden are involved.

None of the operators had mechan-
ical can lifters and most of them
were not interested because they
thought more time would be needed.
A mechanical lifter should no doubt
be installed where young boys or old-
er men do this chore. If this task is
done during milking by the milker, it
is important to do it quickly so that
the man is back with the cows as soon
as possible.

The truck driver usually takes the
cans out of the cooler and this has
not been considered as a part of the
farmer's chore work. If the cooler

} 2 Vacuum Outlets

& Hot Water
^ Cold Water

Shipping Cans

To Barn

Shipping Cans
ready for
Milk

Fig. 10. Floor plan of a milk house, illustrating one arrangement of shipping
cans before milking begins.

>'""'•

.Detergent

Filter Disks

nL 4 Machines

— ' Motor Switc

rch

4 Machine Pails

^ .'^

Sink

T T

Strainers Pails

Can
Storage

16'

Fig. 11. Side view of milk house interior, illustrating one arrangement of
sink, shelves, and milking equipment.

is on a lower level, the lifting is not a
great burden for a strong young man.
The water supports the cans of milk
in the first part of the lift and the
man is in a good position to lift
when he has the full weight to bear.

Care of Milking Equipment

All farms studied were producing
milk for the fluid milk market. The
barns and equipment were periodical-
ly inspected by agents of distribution
companies and health officers. The
milk was subject to constant analysis
for flavor and bacteria count at the
creamery. Each operator was under
pressure of possible loss of premiums
for low bacteria count and even the
eventual loss of his market, if con-
ditions and product were unsatisfac-
tory. Thus the care of milking
equipment and sanitation were very
important.

Facilities and Practices

Information was obtained on 38
additional large dairy farms as to
milk house facilities and practices in
care of milking equipment. Twenty-
five of these had hot water available
in the milk house at all times. Seven

of these had installed large electric
heaters, and 13 had small electric
heaters. Two had hot water piped
from the house and three depended
on wood or coal heaters. Of the 13
who indicated no continuous hot wa-
ter available in the milk house, one
used no hot water, one brought hot
water back from the creamery in the
10-gallon shipping cans, eight carried
hot water from the house, and three
washed equipment in the house.

Eighteen milk houses were equipped
with vacuum pipe extensions, 21 with
special racks for teat cups, and 26
with some kind of sink.

There was a wide variation in pro-
cedure for taking care of equipment.
Eight operators completely dis-
mantled the milking units after each
milking. Seven did so once a day,
five twice weekly, 13 once a week, and
five occasionally. Seventeen washed
equipment twice daily and 21 followed
the practice of washing equipment af-
ter the morning milking and rinsing
after the evening milking. No two
operators were doing identical jobs
and the estimates of time taken daily
in care of equipment varied from 15
to 120 minutes. The sample was
small and not completely random, but

it gives an indication that facilities
vary and that practices are not identi-
cal.

What Are Essential Practices?

It seemed desirable to determine
the essential practices in taking care
of equipment and to formulate at
least one schedule that would simpli-
fy these practices. This was done
with the aid of a dairy bacteriologist
in the Dairy Department.

Recent improvements in construc-
tion of teat cups and the development
of special detergents have aided in
simplifying the essential practices.
The schedules formulated were based
on the use of modern equipment and
detergents.

Included under equipment were the
assembling of equipment before each
milking and carrying to the area in
the barn where milking is to begin,
as well as the transporting of equip-
ment back to the milk house after
milking and rinsing with cold water.

Milking equipment can be cleaned
and maintained with less effort if the
milk house is well designed and facil-
ities conveniently located. One sat-
isfactory arrangement follows. A
sink and equipment shelves are lo-
cated on one side: the sink in the
middle, the shelf for milking machines
on the left, and the shelf for milk
pails and strainers on the right. Spe-
cial hooks for hanging up fully as-
sembled milker heads are spaced
above the milking machine equipment
shelf so that milking machine parts
are grouped in one area. Two air
vacuum outlets are available on the
adjoining end wall about three feet
from the milker equipment shelves. A
switch for the milking machine mo-
tor is located near the vacuum outlets.

On the other side are located the
milk cooler tanks and in one corner
are stored the supply of empty 10-
gallon shipping cans. This leaves
the center of the milk room available

for activities such as preparation and
arrangement of shipping cans previ-
ous to milking, transferring milk cans
from cooler to truck, and rinsing
equipment.

A good flow of hot and cold water
is important in reducing the amount
of time needed. The pipes and valves
should not be less than % inch. Spe-
cial arrangements should be made to
step up the flow wherever the oper-
ator has to wait for rinsing water.
In addition, hot and cold water out-
lets with short hose attached should
be located near the vacuum outlet.
These will permit the operator to fill
pails while doing other activities in
the milk house.

Inventory of Equipment

Where one man is operating two
single units, the following equipment
must be cared for. If two men are
operating two single units each, the
number of utensils would be doubled
except that the two strainers are usu-
ally adequate, if they are extra size.
Some operators use an extra milker
pail to advantage. In this case, how-
ever, the extra milker pail would be
substituted for one of the ordinary
milk pails. This is the equipment
needed for one man operating two
single units:

2 single milking machine units

2 large strainers

3 milk pails

1 pail for hot water solution

1 strip cup

2 large cloths

In addition, the sink, equipment
shelves, and milk house floor must be
kept clean.

Suggested Procedure

The procedures followed in the sug-
gested schedule in preparation of
equipment before milking and in rins-
ing in clear water immediately after
milking are identical for the morning

and evening milking and one descrip-
tion will suffice.

Following the rinsing in clear wa-
ter after milking, the equipment is
washed in a detergent in the morn-
ing and merely rinsed in the deter-
gent solution at night. The milker
head and teat cups are partially dis-
mantled for washing in the morning.

In considering the tasks involved in
preparing equipment before milking
begins, it is assumed that following
the previous milking, the milking
equipment has been cleaned and put
in special place as follows:

1. The milker pails upside down
on equipment shelf. The milker
heads fully assembled hanging on
hooks above the milker pails.

2. The milk pails and strainers
(unassembled) on the other equip-
ment shelf.

3. The hot water solution pails
and strip cups on a small shelf be-
low the milker equipment shelf and
the cloths on a rod near by.

4. The 10-gallon shipping cans
with covers on tight stacked in the
corner, a mallet in a special place
near by for loosening the covers.

Preparation for Milking

The following is a summary of the
preparation which must be made for
milking. Details are omitted.

1. Assemble milking machines on
floor near vacuum outlets and rinse
by drawing clear water through teat
cups and tubes. Rinse milk pails.
Rinse strainers and milk pails with
water from milker pails. Assemble
machines ready for transportation.
Assemble strainers.

2. Arrange 10-gallon shipping
cans in line or semicircle, loosen cov-
ers and put strainers on cans at far
end.

3. Carry assembled units and milk
pails to the area in barn where milk-
ing is to begin.

4. Prepare pails of hot water, at-

tach strip cup and throw in cloths
and carry to area where milking is to
begin. The last two steps can be
combined where special milking equip-
ment cart is used during milking.

Care Affer Milking

At the end of each milking, all
equipment must be carried to the
milk room and all parts in contact
with milk must be rinsed in cold wa-
ter immediately. These two tasks
can be done quickly if each utensil
is carried to the milk house at the
first convenient trip after use. Thus
the pail of. solution, strip cup and
cloths, and milk pails can be carried
to the milk house and each deposited
in the proper place for rinsing be-
fore milking is complete. Each milk-
ing machine can be carried to the
milk house, emptied, and made ready
for rinsing.

The milking machine is rinsed by
drawing clear water through it by
vacuum and then shaking. The rinse
water in the milker pail can then be
used to rinse the other equipment.
This can be done quickly if milk pails
are filled with rinse water in advance
of need.

Following the rinsing in clear wa-
ter in the morning, the milking ma-
chines are partially dismantled. The
long air hoses and pulsators are re-
moved and placed in their proper
storage places. The teat cups, milk
tubes, and head parts are put in de-
tergent solution in the sink. In or-
der to protect the air openings in the
teat cups from the solution, the air
hose is removed from half the teat
cups and the free end of an attached
air hose substituted. Thus a pair of
teat cups are temporarily joined by
one air hose. The equipment can re-
main in the detergent solution until
the usual washing period. Each part is
washed in the detergent solution with
special brushes. Then the strainers,
pails, milker pails, solution pails,

cloths, and strip cups are washed.
Each milker head is fully assembled
and put in place on hooks. Other
equipment is put in place without
rinsing.

Following rinsing with clear water
at night, the process of rinsing is re-
peated using the detergent solution
instead of water the second time. The
milker heads are not dismantled. The
utensils are put in place,

Man Minutes Required

These steps were worked out in de-
tail (not shown here) and checked
in a milk room. The following time
schedule is approximate :

Morning

Preparation of equipment

for milking
Rinsing after milking
Washing

Morning Total
Evening

Preparation

Rinsing after milking

Rinsing in solution

Evening Total

2 inachines

4 nia<;hines

4 min.

4
3
3

I min.

5
8

7
5
5

Total for day

To do these tasks in the time al-
lotted above, the operator would an-
ticipate the need for water and solu-
tion and would draw supplies of water
and make solutions between other ac-
tivities. He would use two hands to

Minutes
120

100

MANGER
CLEANING

SILAGE

12 3 4 5

Form Number

Fig. 12. Man minutes spent on daily
feeding chores on five farms
in 1948, adjusted to a 40-
covv barn. The data for each
farm indicate the propor-
tionate time spent on feed-
ing hay, silage and grain,
in cleaning mangers, and
miscellaneous work associ-
ated with feeding.

advantage. He would attach two air
hoses to the vacuum at one time and
rinse two milkers at once. He would
experiment in finding the best and
quickest routine for doing each task
and a sequence that would fit all the
tasks together.

VI Feeding

The physical task of feeding cows
is not identical for all farms due to
the differences in combination of
types of feed as well as the location
of storage of the grain and roughage.
While the detailed procedure adopted
must be adjusted to the situation on
each individual farm, the general pro-
gram of simplifying the feeding op-
erations is applicable to most farms.
Adaptations can be made by each op-
erator.

Approximately two pounds of di-
gestible protein and 15 pounds of
total digestible units are needed daily

per cow. These nutrients are usual-
ly supplied by some combination of
hay, silage, and grain. The combina-
tion will vary from farm to farm due
to availability of different types of
roughage and changes in price rela-
tionships of grain and roughage to
milk. Hay and silage can be sub-
stituted one for the other on the ba-
sis of one pound of hay to three of
silage. Grain can also be varied
within limitations depending on the
quality of the roughage, price rela-
tionships, and capacity of the cows.

Minutes
120

100
80
60
40

MANGER
CLEANING

PREPARATION

12 3 4 5
Form Number

Fig. 13. Man minutes spent on daily
feeding chores on five farms
in 1948, adjusted to 40 cows.
The data indicate the pro-
portionate time spent on
preparation of feeds, actual-
ly distributing feeds, clean-
ing mangers, and miscellan-
eous work. Note particular-
ly the large amount of time
used in preparation.

Feed Combinations Vary

The wide differences in feed com-
binations are illustrated in the fol-
lowing rations:

1. High hay ration, 20# hay, 15#
silage, and 10# grain

2. Medium hay ration, 15# hay,
30# silage, and 10# grain

3. Low hay ration, 10# hay, 45#
silage, and 10# grain

4. No silage ration, 25# hay, 0#
silage, and 10# grain

On the basis of a 40-eow herd, each
of these rations means a different
weighing of several essential tasks
in carrying out feeding operations.
As indicated in the following esti-
mates, Ration 3 involves handling-
half as much hay but three times as
much silage as Ration 1.

1. High hay ration

800# hay, 600# silage,
400# grain

Total
feed

1800#

2. Medium hay ration
600# hay, 1200# sil-
age, 400# grain 2200#

3. Low hay ration

400# hay, 1800# sil-
age, 400# grain 2600#

4. No silage ration
1000# hay, 0# silage,

400# grain 1400#

The procedure in feeding a par-
ticular combination of feeds can usu-
ally be converted into a simple sched-
ule. Thus if several types of grain
seem essential for best results in a
herd, the process of distributing the
several kinds can be simplified and
done in one operation.

Experience and tests have indi-
cated that the cow need not be fed
several times a day. She has an
ample paunch, is endowed with a
large digestive system, and has the
capacity to function well on two feed-
ings a day. Consequently, the first
step in efficient feeding can be the
simplification of feeding schedules so
that cows are fed only twice daily — in
the morning and late afternoon.

The feeding of grain twice a day
seems to be good practice, and re-
quires very little additional time. The
schedule of feeding roughage can be
varied depending on the proportion
of hay and silage. A cart load of
600 pounds of silage is about the up-
per limit of convenient handling. This
amount would supply 40 cows with
an average of 15 pounds. Thus if
the feed of silage is light, one trip
around the barn would complete the
feeding of silage for the day. Like-
wise, 1200 pounds of silage would
mean two large cartloads and could
be handled in two feedings of 600
pounds each. The 1800 pounds of
silage could be handled by the use
of two cartloads (1200 pounds) at
the morning feeding and one cart-
load (600 pounds) at the evening
feed. In the latter case, one feed-
ing of 400 pounds of hay daily could

accompany the lighter feed of silage
in the late afternoon.

Thus the feeding of 800 pounds of
hay, 600 pounds of silage, and 400
pounds of grain could be accomplished
by the following schedule:

Morning

200# grain before milking

400# hay after milking

600# silage after breakfast
Night

200# grain before night milking

400# hay after night milking

On the other hand, the feeding of
400 pounds of hay, 1800 pounds of
silage, and 400 pounds of grain might
involve the following schedule:

Morning

200# grain before milking
1200# silage, two 600# cartloads, after
milking
Night

400# hay before milking
200# grain before milking
600# silage after milking

Thus the operation of feeding in the
case above breaks down to the pro-
cedures involved in: (1) moving 200
pounds of grain from storage and
distribution to cows; (2) transfer-
ring 400 pounds of hay from the mow
storage and distribution to the cows;
and (3) the moving of 600 pounds of
silage from the silo to the barn floor
and its distribution. These can now
be considered one at a time.

Grain Feeding

The feeding of grain consists of
two major tasks: (1) preparation,
which involves the work in the grain
storage, such as the opening of sacks,
tilling the grain cart, and sweeping
the storage, and (2) the actual dis-
tribution of the grain to the cows.

A variety of situations exist in
present preparation practices :

(1) Grain was stored in 100-
pound sacks on the floor above the
cows. The operator traveled up the
stairs, carried 100-pound sacks to the
trap door over the feed floor and
dropped them through the opening to
the feed alley below. He then trav-
eled down the stairs to the feed floor,
opened the sacks and emptied grain

into the grain cart. Approximately
100 feet of travel horizontally and a
trip up and down one flight of stairs
were involved in every feeding,

(2) Grain was stored in a grain
room on the same floor as the cows
and near the feed alley. The opera-
tor opened sacks, lifted them waist
high and emptied them into the cart.
About 25 feet of travel was involved
in going to and from the storage.

(3) A few operatoi's have made
special provisions to store grain in
bulk on the floor above the cows. At
feeding time they draw it directly in-
to the cart by gravity. This arrange-
ment requires very little travel and
the work of preparation was done
either occasionally or done at the
time of delivery of grain. The task

1 TRUCK 1

^BRIDGED DRIVEWAY

0 0

Pll 1

GRAIN
STORAGE

/i'""

cow STABLE

/(^GRAOe

Fig. 14. One method of storing
grain on the floor above the
cows. Note that when and if
grain in bulk becomes avail-
able, arrangements could be
made to till the feed bin di-
rectly from a dump truck.

of opening and emptying sacks can
be done quicker and easier when
many sacks are handled at one period.
This is because the detailed procedure
can be followed and the tools are at
hand. In one case the feed company
did most of the work of opening and
emptying sacks at time of delivery
and took the sacks back to the store.
The farmer had developed special
facilities so that the delivery truck-
men could empty the bags of grain
directly into the bulk grain storage
with less eff'ort than is required on
most other farms. The operator had
grain available at his control in the
feed alley.

Fig. ISA. This g^rain room is above
the feed floor. Grain is
stored in sacks on one side
of the room. The small
bins, with chutes to the
floor below, are filled once
a week.

The storage of grain in bulk on the
floor above the cows and the grain
easily accessible near the feed alley
seem to minimize the labor required,
and should be considered in new or
remodeling construction. In some
barns it is difficult to arrange stor-
age location so that it is easily ac-
cessible for delivery of grain from
trucks and also conveniently located
for the feeding operation in the floor
below. In these cases, a location fav-
oring easy accessibility of grain at
the work center on the stable level
should be given priority. Having the
grain handy on the feeding floor cuts
down on the time of operations that
must be done at busy periods of the
day. It makes the labor more flex-
ible.

The task of getting grain from the
grain dealer's truck to farm storage
is not within the scope of this study,
but it is an important part of grain
handling. Usually the grain dealer
will deliver sacks of grain to con-
veniently located storage rooms. On
many New Hampshire farms, the de-
livery truck can be driven onto a
driveway floor above the cows, and
the bags of grain unloaded into a

convenient storage room. Two oper-
ators had built one or more bulk stor-
age bins in this room. Chutes ex-
tended from these to the feeding floor
below. These operators opened and
emptied bags of grain into the bulk
bins once a week. They could do
this at a slack period.

In one case observed, the truck was
driven onto a driveway eight feet
above the mow floor. A bulk storage
bin had been constructed in the space
above the cows and immediately be-
low this driveway. The operator
hauled his own grain and at the time
of delivery opened and emptied the
bags directly from the truck to the
bulk storage bin. This type of barn
is not uncommon in northern New
Hampshire and many other operators
could take advantage of this plan.
When and if grain can be purchased
in bulk, provision could be made to
dump it directly into the bin.

In order to have grain in bulk
above the cows in most modern barns
in this state, the grain will have to be
elevated 10 or more feet above the
floor of the truck. Farmers can lo-
cate the bulk bins in the most con-
venient place for feeding and use spe-
cial equipment for elevating it. (See
Fig. 16.) Such equipment is not ex-
pensive and is now available. It is
possible that alert grain dealers will
become equipped to place the grain

GRAIN ROOM

COW STABLE

Fig. 15B. This diagram illustrates
the handling of grain in
Fig. ISA.

,— eULK STORAGE BIN

GRAIN STORE TRUCK

Fig. 16. Illustrating the use of spe-
cial equipment to fill grain
bins. Grain could be hauled
to farms in sacks and ele-
vated by machinery. Event-
ually grain stores may de-
liver grain in bulk.

mechanically where the farmer wants

it.

For the present, the grain dealer
could carry portable equipment which
can be attached to the rear of the
truck when at the farm. He could
haul grain in bags to the farm and
empty into the hopper of the elevat-
ing equipment. In time, if sufficient
number of farmers have made the
proper arrangements for bulk stor-
age, the grain company might install
special facilities for handling in bulk.
The farmer, of course, can install his
own equipment. The grain could be
delivered to the farm in bags and
opened and emptied into the elevating
hopper. Another plan would be to
elevate the sacks to a temporary grain
room on the floor above the cows and
the operator can open and empty the
bags once a week. Incidentally, one
poultry operator elevates 10 bags of
grain at a time to the top of an old
barn with ordinary hay barn equip-
ment. He empties the bags into bulk
bins once a week and can draw grain
from chutes on three floors below the
bins.

This storage bin can be divided to
accommodate more than one kind of
grain, or with two bins available,
loads of the same kind of grain can

be alternated to insure using up all
old grain before new deliveries are
fed. The grain storage capacity need
not be large on New England dairy
farms since the operator can depend
on purchasing mixed feed as needed.
Six to eight tons capacity will per-
mit taking advantage of large truck
load deliveries and allow for sufficient
carry-over in case of delayed supplies.
Two bins, each 4 by 6 feet and 10
feet high, will hold about 8 tons of
feed which will be sufficient for a 40-
cow herd. The bins should be not
over 6 feet wide to avoid bridging
over. There is no economy in large
capacity to take advantage of ex-
pected price changes. The individual
who wishes to speculate can more con-
veniently hedge on the grain market.
The arrangement of storage and
chutes so that the operator can draw
supplies by gravity to fill the grain
cart eliminates most of the daily
chores involved in preparation.

Fig. 17. The operator is pulling the
rope that will fill the grain
cart in half a minute or less.
This is the same farm as
diagrammed in Fig. 14.

Grain Carts

Most operators on farms studied
used some type of cart in feeding-
grain. The range in man minutes
per day, adjusted to a 40-cow basis,
was from a low of 5.6 to a high of
17.3.

Some of the operators feed several
kinds of grain — sometimes they feed
special mixtures of grain to some of
the cows, sometimes they feed two or
more kinds to all the cows. In one
case the operator made a round with
one kind of grain and then another
round with a second type. He took
17.3 man minutes daily.

Most of the operators who used
two kinds of grain had a division in
the cai-t and made one round. Some
operators fed only one kind of grain
which simplified the process.

All the operators were careful feed-
ers and varied the amount to each in-
dividual cow. Three methods were
employed in distributing the right
amount: (1) estimating volume in
hand scoop; (2) by weight as reg-
istered on scale on special hand
scoop; and (3) by actual weight as
read on suspended spring scale. The
first two methods were quicker than
the third.

Some of the grain carts were un-
necessarily heavy and awkward. A
light, easily inaneuvered cart holding
only a little more grain than needed
for one feeding will be most satis-
factory. The operator can estimate
the maximum grain he will need at
one feeding and build the capacity of
the cart accordingly. On a 40-cow
farm a cart holding 250 pounds of
grain will be large enough. Attention
should be given to having the floor of
the cart at a level which will enable
the operator to move along without
undue stooping.

Most dairymen know their cows
and can make a circle traveling along
one manger and back along the other,
feeding 40 cows one feed in a short

Fig. 18. One design for a grain cart.
Note that the grain is at a
convenient height for the
operator. It is light and
handles easily. It was built
under the supervision of
Paul A. Oilman, UNH As-
sistant Professor of Agri-
cultural Engineering.

period of 4 minutes or less. If the
grain cart storage place is located
conveniently, less than 175 feet of
travel is involved at each feeding.

The distribution of grain to cows
can be mechanized and made more or
less automatic, but hand feeding
takes so little time that the develop-
ment of such equipment is not press-
ing. Feeding grain by hand to each
individual cow, even if done quickly,
aff'ords an opportunity for special ob-
servation of each animal — an impor-
tant item in the art of successful
dairying.

Feeding Hay

The feeding of hay involves two
operations: (1) moving it from the
place of storage to the feeding floor
and (2) its distribution to the cows.

The physical task of transfer from

■■•£mmihU«

*4llfm

Fig. 19. One short trip up and back
feeding task. Note the hay

storage to feed alley depends on the
form of the hay and the location and
type of storage facilities. A number
of farmers are operating balers and
hay choppers in harvesting hay. Oth-
ers are exploring their use. While
these men may be giving considera-
tion to the harvesting phases of the
problem, the handling of the various
forms of hay in and out of storage
under the various storage situations
is very important and needs attention.

Form of Hay

Hay stored as loose long hay tends
to bind and is taken from the mow in
individual foi'kfuls. Once on a
smooth floor 60 pounds or more can
be pushed along rather easily be-
cause it holds together as a bunch.
Baled hay is throw^n from the mow
a bale at a time. It handles easily
and conveniently. Chopped hay can
be raked down hill from the top of
the mow. It can be made to "flow"
but does not handle efficiently with
the ordinary fork. It packs and
bridges over. Also it tends to fall
apart when forked and without spe-

in the feed alley completes the grain
forks in place.

cial tools it does not push along a
smooth floor very satisfactorily. Thus
each form handles differently and
each presents a special problem.

Mow-feed Alley Patfern

The many variations in location
and type of storage facilities present
a variety of problems in getting hay
to the feed floor. The amount of
physical work and the time required
are much greater where hay has to
be transported long distances. In
most of the old original barns a drive-
way extended through the full length
from end to end, eight feet or more
above the ground level. The hay was
stored in bents on one side along the
driveway. Cows were stanchioned in
one line on the opposite side with hay
stored overhead. In remodelling these
old barns, the cattle have usually
been moved to stanchions on the
ground level, leaving the upper part
of the barn available for hay storage.

These remodelling jobs, together
with some new construction, have re-
sulted in about four patterns of rela-

tionship of hay storage to feed al-
leys.

1. In the first pattern (Fig. 20)
the central driveway through the
flcor of the mow has been retained.
This leaves floor space available in
the middle of the barn. Hay is
thrown from the top of the bents to
the mow floor and then is pushed
along the mow floor to one or more
trap doors. If the cattle face in in
the stable below, and if several hay
chutes or doors are available, the
movement of hay is fairly direct and
convenient. There is a waste of stor-
age space.

HAY BENTS

Q -4- Trap Doors -^Q

Driveway

HAY BENTS

Fig. 20. This mow floor plan illus-
trates one type of hay stor-
age location. The hay is
thrown to the driveway
floor and then through trap
doors to the feeding floor
below. It is fairly conveni-
ent but wasteful of space.

2. In the second pattern (Fig. 21)
all or most of the driveway has been
discarded and the entire floor is avail-
able for hay storage. Most of the
new barns are of this type; the cows
on ground level and the hay stored
the full width of the barn overhead.
Most of the barns are equipped with
hay chutes which extend to the top
of the hay. But in some barns a few
feet of the original driveway has been
retained and hay is thrown from the
top of the adjacent mows to the drive-
way floor and then through the trap
door to the feed alley below. As the
barn feeding season advances and ad-
ditional bents are fed out, more and
more mow floor space and additional
trap doors are available. When hay
chutes have been installed the hay is
fed out from the top of the mow by
throwing forkfuls through the chute

to the feed alley below. In this case,
if several chutes are available, hay is
not moved very far horizontally at
any time.

3. In the third case (Fig. 23) the
cow stable is to one side and not un-
der the hay storage. Usually a one-
story building 34 feet wide extends
out at right angles to the axis of the
old barn. Hay stored at one end of
the mow must be moved the full
length and half the width of the barn
to transfer it to one end of the feed-
ing floor. Hay must be moved a con-
siderable distance both in the mow
and in the feed alley. The cow stable
may be on a lower level than the mow
floor or it may be on the same level.'

4. The fourth pattern (Fig. 22)
is similar to the third except that
about half of the cow stable and half
of the cows are under the mow and
the distance that hay must be moved
would be only about half as far.

Hay is moved horizontally only
small distances in the first two situa-
tions described. The hay is imme-
diately over the cows and can be
transferred to the stable floor below
either directly through long hay
chutes or by first pitching to the mow
floor and then through trap doors.
However, many of the hay chutes

TRAP DOORS AS HAY CHUTES

^Short Drivewoy

Fig. 21. This was originally the
same type as in Fig. 20.
Only one end of the drive-
way has been retained.

were too small in barns of the Fig.
21 type and the driveway in the Fig.
20 type was sometimes clogged with
stored supplies and machinery, mak-
ing it difficult to transfer hay. In
one case, because of the blocked drive-
way the operator pitched hay from
bent one to bent two, from bent two
to the driveway and carried the hay

in forkfuls to the center of the barn.
He spent 18 man minutes of strenuous
effort in getting the day's supply of
hay to the feed alley. The storage
location was convenient but the pas-
sageway was blocked.

The average weight movement of
hay horizontally in the Fig. 23 type
in a 40-cow barn would be about 40
feet in the mow and a similar dis-
tance in the feed alley. Some of the
hay would move only a short distance,
but on the other hand hay in the last
bent at the far end of the barn is ap-
proximately 160 feet from the far
end of the stable. In the Fig. 22
barn, the average movement of hay
horizontally is about 25 feet and ap-
proximately the same in the stable
below. The hay in the farthest bent
is about 120 feet from the last cow.
Where the cow stable extends out
from the middle of the old barn,
these distances in the mow would be
less.

The physical task in transferring
hay from storage to feed alley in
these four arrangements are not iden-
tical and each operator has to study
his situation and adopt a procedure
that will be efficient and practical. He
will need to reconsider his procedure
if he shifts from one form of hay to
another.

Hay is usually moved out of the

Fig. 2.3. A third
type of hay mow-
stable plan. The
stable usually is
one story high at
right angle to the
old barn which is
now used only for
storage. The hay
must be moved
some distance.

Hay Mow Floor

36' X 100'

TraoDoor

^ r

T ■

' 8 0

T -* '

-1

Fig. 22. This floor

'(O

plan illustrates a

fourth situation.

It is much like the

5'o - 1

third type except

4—

that part of the

-I

cow stable is un-

der one end of the

old barn. The av-

erage movement

of hay is less.

^TrapDoor StOble 36' X lOO'

8' BELOW HAY MOW LEVEL

mow immediately before feeding, and
the amount handled is limited to the
one feeding. Thus about the same
amount of travel to and from the mow,
usually up and down stairs or lad-
ders, is required without regard to
the amount of hay needed for one
feeding. To get 800 pounds of hay
from storage to feed alley in one
barn, the operator traveled approxi-
mately 1000 feet per day. This in-
cluded average travel of 372 feet
horizontally and 35 feet vertically,
and in addition, moving the hay an
average of 40 feet in the mow.

One operator had built several
over-sized hay chutes, which would
hold sufficient hay for two feedings.
Each hay chute had double doors
which could be opened and closed
from below. The operator would fill
these chutes at some convenient time
during the day and at the proper time
for feeding would draw down the hay
from the chute by merely pressing
on the door latch with his hay fork.
He did not have to leave the stable
floor at a time when other chores were
pressing.

Records taken on in-
dividual farms in this
study represent the
activities on that par-
ticular day, and, in the

case of hay preparation, may not be
typical for other periods in the barn
feeding season. The physical task
of moving hay out of storage changes
as the season advances. The hay may
come from a more difficult location
and more hay may be fed when silage
supply is low. The man minutes
spent daily on hay preparation varied
from 3.7 to 18 (adjusted to a 40-cow
basis).

Attention has been called in previ-
ous pages of the importance of mak-
ing chore tasks more flexible as to
time of day of performance. Prep-
aration of hay is a task that can be
reorganized and done occasionally
rather than just before each feeding.
This type of arrangement may or may
not reduce total man minutes ex-
pended, but more important, it can
aflford more flexibility in the use of
available labor. In the following dis-
cussion on handling the three forms
of hay the possibility of arrangements
to do this chore only once or twice a
week and at some convenient slack
period is stressed particularly. More
flexibility in the use of labor as well
as greater efficiency can be gained by
developing special methods of get-
ting hay to the feed alley. Because
of the many combinations of forms of
hay and pattern of mow-feed alley
arrangements, only general problems
will be discussed.*

Baled Hay

Baled hay lends itself most easily
to special handling methods. It is
a compact package 18 x 12 x 30 inches
weighing approximately 60 pounds.
One feed of 400 pounds will require
about seven bales. In one trip to the
mow, provision can be made for suf-
ficient bales for several feeds. One
procedure in barns with some free
mow floor space is to stack enough
bales for one feeding on the edge of
the trap door opening. These can be
tripped (Fig. 24) to fall to the feed
alley when needed. One group of
bales on each side of the trap door
will supply four feedings. With an
additional trap door the supply can
be doubled to eight feedings. To do
this each group of bales is stacked
on a quarter-inch rope, one end of
which is fastened near the chute.
When the bales are in place the rope
is thrown over the bales, the free
end in reach of the operator on the
feed alley floor. A pull on the rope
dumps the bales through the trap
door.

Another practical arrangement is
to balance the bales near the edge of

* As a result of this study, the Department
of Agricultural Engineering of the New Hamp-
shire Experiment Station has initiated a proj-
ect to develop mechanical means of getting
hay out of the mow. The Harvey P. Hood
Dairy Foundation granted funds to the Experi-
ment Station for this purpose.

Fig. 24, These sketches indicate inexpensive methods of preparing baled hay
in advance so that it is available to the operator from the feeding
floor.

&,.

Fig. 25. Actual operation of one method of tripping bales. At left, the bales
are in position on the mow floor with the pull rope thrown over them.
At right, the operator has pulled the rope and the first two bales are
dropping.

the trap door in such a way that a
poke with the fork from the feed al-
ley floor will trip the bales.

Another method is a slide extend-
ing diagonally from the trap door on
the mow floor level to the top of the
hay mow. This slide can be loaded
occasionally. As the bottom bales
are removed, the others will slide
down into position to be removed.

Or a moving belt on a light frame
operated by an electric motor can be
installed. This can be horizontal on
the mow floor delivering bales
through the trap door or can operate

at the top of the mow delivering bales
through the chute. The belt could be
loaded occasionally and the delivery
of bales to the feed alley controlled by
push button. One wide belt 30 feet
long will hold, stacked two high, about
40 bales or 2400 pounds of hay. This
is sufficient for six 400-pound feed-
ings. Stacked four high the belt
would hold 4800 pounds and provide
eight 400-pound feedings.

Where hay chutes have been in-
stalled, the same procedures, with
slight modifications, can be worked
out using openings to the chute at

o)*MO\TOR
^SWITCH

n i. ..>

Fig. 26. These sketches indicate more elaborate methods requiring special
equipment. The one at the right would require a motor and belt,
but in one trip to the mow the operator would load up sufficient num-
ber of bales for several feeds.

any level.

In barns where the hay must be
moved long distances in the mow such
as in Figs. 22 and 23, the electric-
powered belt could be used to advant-
age. In this case a second control
switch would be installed at the end
of the belt. It could be loaded at the
far end as the belt moved toward the
trap door or chute. A 40-foot belt
conveyer would serve the dual pur-
pose of reducing the hand movement
of bales to a nominal amount and of
making supplies available on push
button control. This conveyor sys-
tem could be extended above the cows
in the one-story stable in barn type 3
(Fig. 23).

Chopped Hay

Chopped hay is usually blown in,
filling the entire width of the mow
space. Where over-sized hay chutes
are installed, these can be filled in
advance and the hay drawn down into
the stable at feeding time by opening
the chute door. Where several chutes
are available, sufficient hay for two
or more feedings can be prepared in
one trip to the mow. At a later sea-
son, when the hay must be moved hor-
izontally some distance on the mow
floor, a large canvas hammock with
ropes attached can be used. This can
be filled with hay by so placing it
that the hay can be raked down hill.
It can then be dragged on the mow

^CHOPPED HAY

MOTOR*:
SWITCH

Fig. 28.

This sketch illustrates a
method of preparing a feed-
ing of chopped hay in ad-
vance and making it avail-
able from the stable floor.

Fig. 27. This over-size hay chute
has a trap door at the bot-
tom which can be opened
from the stable floor. The
operator fills this and three
other similar chutes with
chopped hay at a convenient
time. He can draw down
sufficient hay for several
feedings without return to
the mow.

floor to the edge of the trap door
much the same as long hay is drawn
or pushed. At feeding time the
chopped hay can be drawn through
the trap door by pulling on the rope
from the floor below. In this way,
by the use of several of these canvas
hammocks, hay for several feeds can
be prepared in advance.

Another arrangement is a moving
belt (See Fig. 28) similar to the
equipment in the bottom of a manure
spreader.* The belt would move
horizontally in a crib on the mow
floor. This crib can be filled at a
convenient time. Hay is made avail-

* The Agricultural Engrineering: Department
of the New Hampshire Experiment Station is
now working on this problem.

able from the stable floor by pressing
an electric switch. Since the sides of
the crib would be less than 4 feet high
it could be filled in the early feeding
period by raking the hay downward.
At a later period, filling the crib
would require more hand work.

Long Hay

In getting long hay out of the mow,
the oversized hay chute previously
described can be used to advantage
in some barns. The crib with a mov-
ing wide belt will be effective where
free mow floor space is available near
the trap door leading to the feed al-
ley. The canvas hammock described
under chopped hay can be loaded in
advance and then unloaded by pull-
ing the rope from the feed alley floor.
Where long hay must be carried long
distances in the mow, special arrange-
ments may be made to use the regu-
lar hay carrier and track system. Me-
chanical power (Fig. 29) could be
used to raise several hundred pounds
of hay any desired height from the
mow and carried along the barn and
dumped as desired. This procedure
can be perfected by engineers.

In barns of the Fig. 23 arrange-
ment, a wooden platform on low
wheels could be used near the end of
the winter feeding period to trans-
port hay from the far end of the barn.
Small quantities of long hay, of
course, can be pushed fairly conveni-
ently along a smooth mow floor. In

several instances, operators had in-
stalled hay mow driers in such a way
that the operator had to carry hay
rather than push it. More time and
greater eff'ort were required.

The task of getting hay out of the
mow to the feed alley floor involves
more travel and becomes more impor-
tant as the size of the herd increases
and consequently different practices
must be considered for a very large
herd. For instance, the man with 60
cows, handling half a ton or more of
baled hay a day, might use his truck
to transport a week's supply of hay
from the mow to a more convenient
small storage near the feed alley.
Under these conditions the hay can
be kept in temporary storage some
distance from the stable, and supplies
trucked in once a week.

In some cases, special arrangements
can be made for one or several con-
venient storage spaces adjacent to the
feed alley and so located that they
can be filled easily from the mow. For
instance, if the cows face in, a room
at the end of the barn can sometimes
be provided. If the cows face out a
room on each side of the barn is con-
venient. Sufficient supplies of hay
for two or three days can be stored
in these rooms and pushed out as
needed.

Summary

In large dairy barns, the movement
of 200,000 or more pounds of hay

ELECTRIC
HOIST

Fig. 29. This sketch illustrates the possibilities
of using equipment, now available, in
moving loose hay from one end of the
mow to the trap door at the other end.

COW STABLE

from the mow to the feed floor is a
large task even if it is partially ob-
scured by spreading the labor over a
long period. In some barns where
the hay has to be transported a long-
distance in the mow, special attention
should be given to inexpensive me-
chanical aids.

More important than the reduction
of total physical human effort and
man hours is the development of
practices that will make this opera-
tion more flexible in the demand for
labor. If an operator under his con-
ditions finds a way to prepare hay in
the mow one day a week so that a
week's supply is available to him at
his control by push button methods,
he has reduced the need of labor at
definite peak period times. His avail-
able labor can be used to greater ad-
vantage.

Distributing Hay

On the farms studied, the range
in time spent in distributing hay was
6.4 to 61.2 man minutes daily on a
basis of 40 cows. The highest was
on a farm where imported Kansas-
baled hay was fed, and the lowest was
local field baled hay. In the first in-
stance, the operator had difficulty
shaking the tightly compressed heavy
Kansas bales apart. In the second
case, the bales were made by ma-
chines that cut the hay in sections
during the field baling process. They
were light, weighing about 60 pounds
each, and fell apart when the binding
twine was cut. One operator feed-
ing long hay twice daily spent 19.4
man minutes distributing to the cows
(40-cow basis) and one operator dis-
tributing chopped hay by cart spent
15.6 man minutes. One year later
the time on these farms had been re-
duced to 12.7 and 9.2 man minutes,
respectively.

The distribution of hay to the cows
is most convenient when the supply
is available at several points in the

1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.

cows FACE IN

o o:

a. o

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

I 1-

UJ 1/)

TEMPORARY STORAGE

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 rr

cows FACE OUT

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 L

TEMPORAR)

r STORAGE

Fig. 30. Small temporary storage
space near the feed alley
may be useful in feeding
hay on some farms.

feed alley and is at the control of
the operator from the feed floor. Each
form of hay handles differently, but
an experienced operator can distrib-
ute 400 pounds of hay for one feed-
ing to 40 cows in about three min-
utes provided the hay is available at
several points. If the hay is avail-
able only at the end of the barn, the
operator will require more movement
of hay and will take longer to com-
plete the operation. In the case of
chopped hay, the use of a cart is prac-
tical if hay has to be moved some
distance. The cart can be filled by
gravity from storage above. The hay
can be forked out or partially rolled
out of the cart with a special silage
fork. The operator can usually move
the cart by pushing it with the fork
so that little time is lost. The spe-
cial silage cart with unloading de-
vice can be used to advantage on some
farms. The cartload of feed for 20
cows was distributed in 1.5 man min-
utes.

A load of 250 pounds of chopped
hay, which represents one feeding for
20 cows, is about the limit of con-
venience in handling by cart. In
feeding 40 cows, facilities for filling
the cart by gravity from above at
each end of the barn would be most

satisfactory. The operator would
start with a full cart at one end of
the barn, feeding 20 cows in one line
of stanchions. He would fill the cart
at that end and feed the cows in the
other line on the return since hay
would be taken out of both ends of
the barn.

About seven bales will be needed
for one feeding of 40 cows. Opera-
tors usually carry or lug one bale at a
time on the feed alley floor leaving a
bale for each group of five or six
cows. They then break open the
bales and quickly distribute slices of
hay to the individual cows. On one
farm where the hay was delivered
from the mow to one end of the feed
alley, the operator can-ied one bale
at a time traveling nearly 500 feet.
He now plans to use a low platform
hand truck with a capacity for one
feeding of hay.

Feeding Silage

On a few of the farms, the opera-
tors were handicapped in feeding sil-
age by poor silo location and narrow
doors and passage ways. A major
and expensive remodelling job would
have to be completed before the task
of handling silage could be done
quickly. In one case, for instance,
the bottom of the silo was 10 feet be-
low floor level and the last 40 tons
had to be pitched upwards. In an-
other case where conditions were
favorable, the operator forked ap-
proximately 600 pounds of silage
from the silo directly into a large
cart and distributed it to 40 cows in
10.8 man minutes. Preparation took
5.6 man minutes and distribution 5.2
man minutes. The same task by an-
other worker in the afternoon of
the same day took a total of 15.3
man minutes. A longer period in the
silo was partly due to taking silage
from the most distant area.

Preparation

Throwing silage directly into the

cart was the usual practice. The few
exceptions were whei'e the present
layout was not favorable for the use
of a cart. Most farmers planned to
throw out suflScient silage for one feed
at some convenient slack period. But
sometimes the routine of chores was
such, especially if the cart was used
for other purposes, that the operator
had to fork out silage at a very busy
chore period. Since 600 pounds of
silage is all that can be conveniently
handled on one cartload, the feeding
of 1800 pounds of silage daily would
involve three trips to the silo.

It is suggested that sufficient cart
volume be available for at least one
feed. Where 1800 pounds are fed to
40 cows, the procedure might be to
feed 1200 pounds in the morning and
600 pounds at night. Twin carts so
constructed that both could be placed
side by side under the silo chute would
enable the operator to obtain the 1200
pounds in one trip to the silo*

Transporting Silage

Carrying silage in baskets is, of
course, obsolete. Attention should
now be given to the design of carts
that can be handled easily and the sil-
age distributed quickly. Where the
silage is forked out of the cart, the
rear end and sides should be so de-
signed that the operator, as far as
possible, moves the silage sidewise
and downward and avoids raising
each individual forkful a foot or
more. Since a large load may weigh
over 600 pounds, well designed wheels
and bearings will be an advantage.
One of the difficulties noted was the
extra time and heavy physical work
required to turn a large cartload of
silage around a 90-degree corner. If
the front wheels are placed well back

* Silo unloaders are available on the market
but these are somewhat complicated and ex-
pensive. None was in use in this state for
observation. Also, a special silo has been de-
veloped which enables the operator to take
silage out from the bottom of the silo mechani-
cally. This is in the experimental stage and
expensive.

Fig. 31. Silaye is distributed quick-
ly to waiting cows. The cart
is still in the experimental
stage and is being designed.

and the back wheel is on a swivel,
the turning will be easier.

A special cart was made to unload
and distribute silage. By means of a
revolving belt operated by a hand
crank, the silage was moved out of
the side of the cart. On several trials
sufficient silage for a feed for 20
cows was distributed in an average
of 1.1 minutes. Including the travel
to and from the silo, 600 pounds of
silage can be distributed in 4 man
minutes or less.

Miscellaneous Feeds

Several operators added small
quantities of special feed to the ra-
tion to give variety and to stimulate
appetite. The usual practice was to
feed these extra items at noon or some
special time during the middle of the
day. On one farm, low quality hay
was fed in the morning. At noon a
limited feeding of high quality rowen

was fed on the theory that the cows
would eat more total roughage. In-
cidentally, this was one method of us-
ing up low quality hay. The operator
will soon have a larger proportion of
good quality legume hay and there
will then be no advantage in feeding
several times a day. The need to feed
cows more than twice a day is perhaps
debatable, but if these special feeds
can be mixed with regular feeds or
omitted entirely, greater labor effi-
ciency will result.

Where the operator feels that spe-
cial feeds are essential to economic
production on his farm, he should
give special attention to the labor ef-
ficiency of this extra feeding. If, for
instance, an operator is mixing 100
pounds of beet pulp with 300 pounds
of water and feeding it to 40 cows

Fig. 32. For a special teed mixture
of beet pulp and water, a
steel drum or wooden barrel
on wheels can be made to
distribute the mixture
quickly.

Fig. 33. Where the operator swept feed to the cows (above), it took 4.8 man
minutes. With a scraper (below), it took him only 0.45 man minutes.

in the middle of the day, he can
make use of a steel container or a
wooden barrel on wheels. He can
prepare the mix in a slack period
and at the proper time distribute the
feed quickly with this cart and a
shovel. To distribute this material
by shovel from a stationary position
in the stable involved travel, time,
and energy.

Pushing Hay to Cows

Cows have the annoying habit of
nosing feed out of the manger into

the feed alley. Operators push or
sweep the feed back into the mangers
several times a day. For instance,
one operator did this seven times a
day. He used a small broom and
used 14.1 man minutes daily. The
task was done more often than es-
sential and the equipment for doing
it was inadequate. One operator
used a light wooden pusher for this
purpose with good results. On one
farm where the cows face out, a spe-
cial wooden pusher was designed by

the leaders of this project to fit the
particular situation. With this push-
er, one trip at a normal walking gait
around the circle of the feeding al-
ley, traveling- a total distance of 210
feet in one minute, served the pur-
pose. How much sweeping is essen-
tial may be a personal matter, but
twice a day should be sufficient.

The design of the manger has a
great deal to do with the habit of
cows in nosing feed into the alley.
One operator, in remodelling his
stable, built a flat bottomed level type
manger. The manger extends out
from the stanchion on the level for
two feet and then rises only three
inches to the feed alley (Fig. 34).
Cows do not throw the feed around
very much. Fewer trips and less
time is required to push it back.

Cleaning Manger

Practices in regard to cleaning the
mangers varied greatly. One opera-
tor swept the manger twice daily with
a small broom averaging about 15
man minutes daily on a 40-cow basis.
On another farm, the operator cleaned

the manger less than once a week.
The need for a thorough frequent
cleaning apparently depends on the
type and quality of the feed.

The operator who cleaned the man-
ger only occasionally seemed to have
clean mangers. He was a heavy
feeder and yet the cows seemed to
clean up the feed in the mangers. The
flat-bottomed manger is more easily
cleaned than the curved manger. A
wooden pusher designed to fit the
mangers or a push broom of the right
size can be ased.

A curved push broom with stiff
fibre was made for one operator who
had the conventional curved manger.
A stock steel broom 34 inches wide
was bent to conform to the curve on
the manger. One trip around the
feeding circle was adequate except
when there were large accumulations
of uneaten roughage.

Some of the labor directed to clean-
ing mangers and frequent pushing of
feed to the cows results from short
periods of under-employment. Where
one worker is waiting for another
because of faulty timing, he tends to

Fig. 34. Level mangers lessen the scattering of feed by cows.

Fig. 35. This curved manger took 4.5 man minutes to sweep with an ordinary
broom (above). With the curved broom (below), the time required
was 2.45 man minutes.

keep busy even if the task is not es-
sential at that moment. This habit
was probably acquired when opera-
tions were small and labor was cheap.
But it has been maintained in a pe-
riod of high wages.

Summary of Feeding

The daily task of feeding cows
varied greatly on the farms studied.
Adjusted to a 40-cow basis, the high-
est record in labor used was 145.8
and the lowest was 47.7 man minutes.

The time and ease of feeding can
be reduced on most farms by:

1. Organizing a work center for
feeding operations — a place where all
daily feeding tasks begin and end.
This is especially desirable in plan-
ning a new barn or in remodelling an
old one. The silos, the grain room,
and the entrance to the hay storage
can be grouped in one general work
center area. The silage and grain
carts and all the small equipment
used in feeding should have special
places. The feeding work center
should be located not too far from
the milk work center. If this is done,
a shift from a feeding chore to a
milking task or vice-versa will in-
volve as little travel as possible.

2. Organizing the stall arrange-
ment so that each operation can be
done in a trip around a circle, thus
avoiding back tracking. If cows face

out, feeding grain involves one trip
around the barn beginning and end-
ing at the work center.

3. Simplifying the feeding opera-
tions into the essential things. Elim-
inate the frills. Have as few kinds of
mixture of concentrates as possible.
Mix grains instead of feeding several
grains separately.

4. Using well-designed carts for
grain and silage. Have a special
place for each cart so that it does not
interfere with other chores.

5. Making special arrangements
so that feed preparation can be done
in advance, thus making labor re-
quirements more flexible and reducing
total time.

The actual distribution of feed, not
including preparation, can be accom-
plished in 5 trips around the feed-
ing alleys at total travel of about
1400 feet in 22 man minutes.

The table below shows the man
minutes required under ideal condi-
tions to distribute feed to 40 cows.
It does not include preparation.

Thus if the preparation work can
all be done in advance, one man can
do the feeding at the proper time
very quickly. If an operator is spend-
ing more than 60 man minutes per
day in feeding 40 cows, special at-
tention might well be given to explor-
ing possibilities of readjustments to
reduce the time.

Minutes Required to Feed 40 Cows

Amount

Travel

Time

Total

total

Per trip

N. of

Per trip

Total

required

(man

Feed

(pounds)

trips

(feet)

per trip

minutes)

Grain

400

200

215

430

3.5

7.0

Hay

800

400

340

680

5.0

10.0

Silage

600

215

5.0

All feeds

1800

257

1325

22.0

VII Cleaning and Sanitaf-ion

Under cleaning and sanitation are
grouped six tasks that are concerned
with removing material from the gut-
ters, maintaining clean and dry
bedded stalls and clean alleyways.
These are:

1. Manure disposal — moving ma-
nure out of the stable; 2. Hoe to gut-
ter— scraping manure from stall to
gutter; 3. Scraping alleyway — clean-
ing the alleyway back of cows; 4.
Preparing bedding — getting sawdust
from storage to stable; 5. Bedding —
distributing bedding to stalls; and 6.
Superphosphate to gutter — distribut-
ing superphosphate into the gutter.

There is some difference of opinion
as to how often and how well some of
these individual tasks should be done.
Most of the farms are subject to rigid
inspection by health boards of the
markets served. Better dairymen
wish to maintain a presentable ap-
pearance, have the stable sanitary
and free of odors, and the cows com-
fortable. This induces some of the
men to do some phases of the clean-
ing operation more frequently than
is essential for practical wholesale
dairy farming.

With wide, deep gutters, the clean-
ing of gutters and the spreading of
sawdust bedding once a day should
be adequate and practical. Operators
are using more sawdust than former-
ly. Consequently there is less need
for frequent distribution.

Manure Disposal

In the winter stabling season ap-
proximately 50 pounds of feces and
20 pounds of urine are discharged
daily per cow. About 10 pounds of
sawdust per cow applied as bedding is
eventually added to this, making a
total of about 80 pounds of material
which must be removed daily from

the conventional stall-type barn.
Thus in a 40-cow stable, about one
and one-half tons of material must
be moved from the gutter to the ma-
nure spreader or to the manure pile
daily. In the course of the year ap-
proximately 300 tons would be moved.

The complete task of manure dis-
posal involves the work of transport-
ing to the fields and distribution to
the land. But since this project is
limited to barn chores, the work as-
sociated with spreading was not in-
cluded. The work of filling the
spreader direct from the carrier or
the barn cleaner was included. But
not included were the time required
to get the tractor started and at-
tached to the spreader and the actual
travel to and from the field and
spreading.

Most of the dairymen with modern
stables were spreading manure each
day throughout the barn stabling
season. In fact, about one-half of
the operators allowed themselves no
other alternative. They had no pro-
vision to pile the manure. So it had
to be carted away from the barn
every day. Some of the operators

Minutes
100

25 ■

SWEEP
ALLEVW4V
HOE TO
GUTTER

MANURE
DISPOSAL

12 3 4 5
Farm Number
Fig. 36. Man minutes spent on the
daily routine of cleaning
cow stables on five farms in
1948.

were supplying markets where the in-
spection provisions compel the opera-
tor to remove the manure from the
barn vicinity every day. The usual
barn cleaner installation provides no
alternative.

This is discussed in some detail be-
cause, while the practice of hauling
and spreading manure each day is
good management, the practice with
no alternative provision makes the
task very inflexible as to labor re-
quirements. The operator has to
start his tractor, connect on to the
manure spreader and distribute two
loads of manure every morning no
matter what situation is at hand. If
the operator could divert about 10
per cent of the winter's total manure
supply to a pile to be hauled out in
the spring, he would have a more ad-
vantageous control over the daily la-
bor requirements. The greater flex-
ibility aft'orded by the alternative of
dumping on a pile would enable him
to plan more easily for days off for
labor and avoid complications in the
event of emergencies. The spreading
of manure throughout the winter en-
ables the operator to begin spring
work unhampered and is a good man-
agement practice. Provision for di-
version of not over 10 per cent of the
total might enable him to distribute
his available labor to better advant-
age.*

The removal of a ton or more of
manure daily from the dairy stable
is a major task. On the farms studied
it was transported from the barn by
wheelbarrow, by combination truck
carrier, and by mechanical barn
cleaner. Observations on use of
wheelbarrow on large farms indicated
both greater time spent and harder
work. There were time losses in each
trip in getting out of and back into
the barn. If a wheelbarrow is used,

* This problem might well receive the at-
tention of agricultural engineers. A simple
solution that will work in sub-zero weather
would be a real help to large dairy farmers.
(See Appendix 2.)

a special two-wheeled outfit will ake
less physical effort but will require
better facilities outside the barn.

The combination hand truck and
carrier worked very well and pro-
vided alternative procedure each day.
The operator could unload directly in-
to the spreader or push the carrier
to the end of the track and dump on a
pile. Considerable physical exertion
was needed to push the load to the
end of the barn and to elevate the
bucket to the carrier. On one farm
the operator had installed a motor
and special elevating equipment at
the end of the barn. By throwing
the hoisting chain over a special pul-
ley and pressing the motor switch, the
carrier could be elevated from the
hand truck to the carrier track. Spe-
cial equipment for elevating carriers
is now available. It can be attached
to the carrier, enabling the operator
to do that part of the task quickly
and easily. On one farm a young
man disposed of the manure from 40
cows by truck and carrier in 40 man
minutes. On another farm a total of
45.2 man minutes were required to
remove manure from 40 cows. In
this case five carrier loads were taken
in the morning and two loads in the
afternoon. It is estimated that the
average man, following a normal
working speed, should be able to re-
move the manure from 40 cows in an
hour or less daily. However, this
represents hard physical and some-
what disagreeable work. Many older
operators are not equal to the task.

One operator used 59 man minutes
daily in 1949, adjusted to a 40-cow
herd basis. In 1950 this had been
reduced to 17.5 man minutes by the
use of the mechanical cleaner. This
included the removal of openings and
ramps in preparation, the closing of
openings and return of ramps at the
end, as well as attention to leveling
the load at the spreader.

The use of gutter cleaners is com-

paratively new and is restricted to a
few farms. No attempt is made here
to analyze the problem and make rec-
ommendations, except to suggest that
the decision to buy should be made on
the basis of the individual situation.
A young man with limited capital may
well come to the conclusion that he
can allocate his available capital to
other more pressing needs to greater
advantage.

On the farm mentioned above the
gutter cleaner (Fig. 37), costing
about $1900 installed, saved approxi-
mately 40 man minutes a day or
about 133 hours a year. The farm,
carrying 50 cows and 25 head of
young stock, is operated by an elder-
ly man and his son. The father can
no longer do the hard physical work
of shovelling manure out of the gut-
ter, but he can handle the spreader
and he can press the switch. The
availability of the barn cleaner en-

ables him to function as a full time
worker. The father and son can, if
necessary, do all the chores associated
with a herd of 50 cows. In this case,
the large investment did not seriously
curtail other needs and was a sound
and economic decision. It gives more
flexibility between father and son in
doing the chore work and can be paid
for from current income.

On some farms the mechanical
cleaner may be practical. On others
the operator can well continue with
his truck carrier combination. He can
motorize the carrier lift mechanism
and save some handwork. Neverthe-
less, the trend, as dairy farms become
larger, will probably be toward me-
chanical barn cleaners, partly because
men prefer pressing a button to stand-
ing in a gutter shovelling manure.
It is easier to get and hold good help.
Hired men like to press buttons, too.
In case of labor shortage or emer-

Fig. 37. This older operator has substituted the electric switch for the manure
shovel. This enables him to continue as a full time worker. Al-
though he could no longer do the hard physical work usually asso-
ciated with this task, he can drive the team or tractor and he loves
to turn the switch.

^^^g^mmmm

"^•h^^ ^

«v^-«uMdlK'<c^ ■^iisfi^-^.ef^Xti^ia^sa^

Fig. 38.

This homemade barn cleaner dumps the manure on a concrete ma-
nure pit floor some distance from the barn. Under favorable con-
ditions the operator can clean his stable in 11 minutes. He can load
directly into the spreader but prefers to let it pile up and use tractor
loader and spreaders in the spring and late fall.

gency, the operator is not completely

helpless. But the young man devel-
oping a farm cannot have everything
at once. He must give careful con-
sideration to other needs before in-
vesting in a barn cleaner.

Hoe to Guf-f-er

The soiling of the platform and the
need to hoe down to the gutter varies
greatly from farm to farm. Ar-
rangement of stanchions and size of
stalls are a factor. Cow^s apparently
vary in their habits. Some are very
clean. Occasionally a group of cows
are very dirty in this respect.

On some farms the operator made
the rounds quickly twice a day, and
very little attention was given at other
times. On other farms the task was
done frequently. The total time va-
ried from 1.7 to 18.7 man minutes ad-
justed to a 40-cow basis. The total
time may not be important but often
other chores were interrupted.

Deep, wide gutters and proper ad-
justment of stalls to the size of cows
are aids in keeping platforms clean.
There is some evidence that cows
can be trained to take a position in
the stall which results in less soil
on the platform. One operator had

Fig. 39. Sweeping the gutter alleyway
scraping (below) required 0.48

a group of older cows that were dif-
ficult to keep clean. He installed an
electric fence wire just above their
withers. This induced the cows to
back up to the edge of the gutter be-
fore eliminating urine or fecal ma-
terial. It resulted in a cleaner plat-
form and less need for hoeing ma-
terial to the gutter. The electric cur-
rent, of course, had to be turned off
during milking and while currying.

(above) took 3.1 man minutes, while
man minutes.

The operator thinks he can train
young cows so that they will tend to
keep the platforms clean after the
electric fence is discontinued.

The labor in hoeing down can be
kept at a minimum by a trip around
the barn twice daily and occasional
attention to an individual cow. Trav-
el and time can be conserved by hav-
ing one hoe placed at the work center
and several other hoes available in

definite places immediately back of
the cows. It is also suggested that
attention be given to adjustment of
stalls and that the electric fence wire
be used on individual cows that give
trouble.

Scraping Alleyway

Most of the operators kept the gut-
ter alleyways clean by sweeping with
a stiff narrow brush. This was done
twice or more times a day. This task
took from 3.4 up to 27.5 man minutes
daily, adjusted to a 40-cow basis. On
one farm the operator swept the al-
leyway clean twice daily, then cov-
ered with a light coat of sawdust, us-
ing a hand rake to even it up. The
stable looked clean and nice. It may
not have been more sanitary. On one
farm, the operator used a 14-inch
steel scraper which he held at an
angle and pushed as he walked the
full length of the alleyway. About
four trips around the barn com-

HAY MOW

COW STABLE

BLOWER

Fig. 40.

An illustration of sawdust
storage on one farm.

pleted the task. He did this once a
day in 3.4 man minutes with satisfac-
tory results.

The leaders of this project con-
structed a four-foot steel scraper
which enabled the workers to do this
task satisfactorily in one trip around
the barn. This required 1.8 man

Fig. 41. This shows the trap doors leading to the sawdust storage. They
are filled directly from the truck. '

A view from the stable al-
leyway looking into one of
the sawdust storage bins.

minutes for each trip.

In barns with wide, deep gutters,
the alleyways can be kept clean with
one scraping daily by using a special
four-foot steel scraper. In a 40-cow
barn, this will take about two man
minutes per day.

Preparing Bedding

In recent years better dairymen
have increased greatly the amount of
sawdust used for bedding. It is es-
timated that about one-fourth bushel
or approximately 8 pounds daily are
used. This is over 10 bushels daily
or approximately 2,000 bushels year-
ly per 40 cows.

Most operators had no very definite
plans for storage and small supplies
were obtained at frequent intervals.
A few men have made provisions for
storage by remodelling their barns.

Several operators have provided
storage space for sawdust in the hay

4.5 cubic feet
per running foot

Fig. 43. Sufficient space to store 1000 bushels of sawdust was provided when
this barn was remodelled. The sawdust is shoveled directly from
the truck through the windows. The operator is taking a shovelful
of sawdust and is about to make a half turn and then spread it over
the stall platforms. The diagram at right shows a section view of
this storage method which will hold 4.5 cubic feet for every running
foot along the stable floor. Compare this method with the one shown
in Fig. 44.

STEEL POST^

Fig. 44.

8 cubic feet
per running

foot

In this method of stable storage of sawdust, it is possible to store 8
cubic feet of sawdust for every running foot along the floor. In the
barn shown at the left, wood supports are used in place of the steel
posts pictured in the drawing. The sawdust is shoveled into this
storage bin from the window, the same as in Fig. 43.

mow and made provisions for draw-
ing supplies on the stable floor by
gravity as needed (Fig. 40). In two
instances the sawdust was blown into
the storage. In another two in-
stances it was shovelled from the
truck which had been driven onto the
hay mow floor. The storage bin
should be lined with tar paper or
other material to prevent rot of barn
timbers. One man, in remodelling,
provided a concrete ramp (Fig. 41) at
the end of the barn. He can unload
conveniently and the sawdust is
available through large doors from
the stable to the concrete storage.

It is important to have large stor-
age supplies conveniently located so
that trucks can be unloaded easily
and the material made available at
a handy place. Sawdust can be
loaded on trucks and unloaded by me-
chanical means. Securing and haul-
ing of sawdust has become a major

problem on many large farms. In ex-
treme cases, as much as 14 hours of
man labor have been involved in one
truck load of sawdust — ^due to wait-
ing in turn at the sawdust pile, the
long haul of 40 or more miles, and
the hand shovelling involved in load-
ing and unloading.

The interest of the industry would
be advanced by the development of
special custom services in which one
operator develops special equipment
to load mechanically at the sawdust
pile and has his truck equipped to de-
liver mechanically and quickly to any
storage bin.

On two farms fairly large supplies
of sawdust were stored in the gutter
alleyway along the outside walls of
the stable. For example, in a newly
remodelled barn the old structure was
40 feet wide. The operator built two
rows of stanchions with cows facing
in. This left a very wide alleyway

back of the cows (Fig. 43). He was
able to store 1000 bushels of sawdust
without handicap to the othei- chores.
Sawdust was unloaded directly from
the truck by shovelling through the
windows. A mechanical unloader
would save some labor in this opera-
tion.

Bedding

On a number of farms, the sawdust
was carried from storage in bushel
baskets and spread by pushing it out
by hand. This method required a
large amount of time and travel. For
instance, on one farm in bedding 40
cows, 9 trips were made to storage
requiring- 1170 feet of travel and 13.5
man minutes. On farms where saw-
dust was stored immediately back of
the cows, the sawdust was spread by
scoop very efficiently. Due to incon-
venient storage location, bedding took
about 30 minutes on two farms.

On one farm a special cart, large
enough to hold the daily requirement,

Fig. 4.5. This sawdust cart is filled
quickly by gravity from an
overhead bin.

had been constructed. This was filled
by gravity from above. Approximate-
ly 3.4 man minutes, adjusted for 40
cows, were required.

There is no one best way for stor-
ing, handling, and spreading bedding.
It is suggested that the operator pro-
vide convenient storage for at least
25 bushels per cow, which would be
about half the annual need, and adopt
one of the several good methods for
spreading it quickly and easily once
a day. Five man minutes daily for
40 cows should be sufficient for this
task. All work of preparation can
be done at some convenient time.

Superphosphate to Cutter

Most dairymen were spreading
about one and one-quarter pounds of
superphosphate back of the cows.
Those with gutter cleaners discon-
tinued this practice and instead added
superphosphate to the spreader load.
Most operators used a pail and pushed
the material out by hand as they
walked along the gutter. In larger
barns some of them made two trips
because the pail did not hold a suffi-
cient amount for the entire herd. This
task took from 1.2 to 6.5 man min-
utes for 40 cows. The operator with
the lowest time had superphosphate
stored in one corner of the barn and
had sufficient animals to warrant the
distribution of a 100-pound bag a day.
He tore a small hole in one corner
of the bag, picked up the bag, regu-
lated an even flow of material from
the hole, and walked quickly around
the barn. A special bucket holding
50 pounds, sufficient for 40 cows, can
be devised for spreading superphos-
phate. This has a controlled opening
in the bottom which enables the op-
rator to spread the superphosphate
as he walks along. This could be
mounted on a wheel if the 50 pounds
seemed to be a burden.*

* A special superphosphate gutter spreader
is now manufactured and can be purchased.

Fig. 46. This illustrates one way o
small wheels on the cart are

Miscellaneous Objects

A few operators have a tendency
to accumulate items in the alleyways,
ends of the barn or window sills.
These cause extra work. Many of
these items are obsolete and have no
association with care of cows. It is
suggested that a neat cabinet be built
in a convenient place for storage of
essential items and that all other

f getting sawdust from storage. The
hidden by the doorway.

things be removed from the barn.

In summary, the stable with 40
cows can be adequately cleaned and
cows bedded in about 25 man minutes
provided a modern barn cleaner is
installed and convenient sawdust
storage and handling facilities are
available. With the use of the com-
bination truck carrier, approximately
55 man minutes would be needed.

VMI Miscellaneous Chores

Two chore practices, currying and
turning cows out, were not performed
daily on all farms. About half the
operators curried cows daily, usually
doing a more thorough job when time
permitted. The others curried only
occasionally or not at all. Likewise,
in turning cows out, practices varied
greatly on different farms. A few
men never turned cows out during

the barn housing period. Quantitative
data are not available to indicate the
results of either practice, but both
were considered as daily chores even
though they may not be as essential
as the other tasks.

Currying

The animals in barns where daily
currying is practiced were cleaner

and looked better. The general ap-
pearance of the stable was more fav-
orable.

In fluid milk areas whei'e dairies
are inspected by health officials and
visited by consumers, clean cows are
an important public relations item.
Cows that receive this extra attention
may give slightly more milk, but the
value of the extra milk may not be
sufficient to cover the extra labor. The
amount of currying will depend on
the situation with respect to other in-
come opportunities for the available
labor.

Several operators spent approxi-
mately one man minute per cow daily
in currying. Vigorous hand curry-
ing for forty minutes is a fairly
strenuous task, and operators were
interested in trying out mechanical
aids.*

Turning Cows Out

Turning the cows out once a day,
except in very severe weather, also
has merit. The cows have an op-
portunity for limited exercise and the
operator can better note the cows in
heat.

On one farm cows were turned out
by one worker at the rate of 5 man
minutes for 40 cows. He started at
one end of one line of stanchions,
walked along the feed alley, and re-
leased one cow at a time. He had
trained his dog to keep the cows mov-
ing along. The first cows were thus
prevented from blocking the doorway
and dirtying up the alleyway with
droppings. On this occasion the op-
erator took odd moments between
chores to observe cows. He noted
cows in heat. Two men got the cows
back in their proper stalls and tied
up in 5 minutes or a total of 10 man
minutes. Silage had been distributed
and the cows were prompt in getting

* Several mechanical devices are on the
market. One type is a vacuum cleaner and
another type uses revolving brushes.

to their stalls, although some atten-
tion had to be given to a half dozen
cows who entered the wrong stalls.
Thus on this farm 15 man minutes
were taken for the total operation of
cows "out and in."

On another farm the cows faced out
and the doorway at the end was eight
feet wide. The cows went out and
came in without difficulty. The time
was approximately the same as in the
case of the other farm.

Observations indicate a difference
in the way cows go to their proper
stall when entering the barn. On a
few farms most of the cows went di-
rectly to their places. On some farms
there was considerable confusion and
extra time and patience was required
to straighten this out. In several in-
stances there had been no change in
location of cows for three or four
months and there seemed no particu-
lar reason for so many of them go-
ing into the wrong stalls. This may
be a matter of habit which might be
changed over a period of time if the
operator made a special effort to keep
them moving to their right stalls.
Perhaps he could, at first, let only a
few in the barn at one time and fol-
low up with an attempt to get them
rather quickly into their proper
places.

The practice of turning cows out
each day affects the time and the
order of doing other chores. Bed-
ding can be done to better advantage
when the cows are out. The alley-
way back of the cows may need extra
attention.

On some farms animals on one side
have to move across the feed alley.
The operator has to give special at-
tention to cleaning this area and even
then the sanitary and disease control
is not ideal.

Several men who do not turn out
their cows indicated they had trouble
with cows slipping on concrete stable
floors when entering the barn due to

Table 1

Summary Estimates on Man Minutes to do Daily Chore Tasks during Winter

Period. Adjusted to a 40-cow Farm (35 cows milking).

Estimates do not include occasional chores.

Milking

Milking
Care of milk
Equipment

Feeding

Hay preparation
Hay feeding
Silage preparation
Silage feeding
Grain preparation
Grain feeding
Push feed to cows
Sweep manger

Cleaning

Manure disposal
Hoe to gutter
Sweep alleyway
Bedding preparation
Bedding
Superphosphate

Miscellaneous

Cows in and out
Currying

Total daily chore work on cows
Wait periods before milking
Time out for spreading manure
Time on small calves
Young stock

Man Minutes
daily

175

10
10
10
5
1
6
2
2

40
4
2
2
5
1

15
20

20
20
16'

225

Total daily chores

360

451

ice on their hoofs after being in the
snow for a period.

It is suggested that a total of 15
man minutes will usually be required
for cows "out and in." To hustle
cows beyond a certain point results in
confusion and excites them. Conven-
ient access to and from doorways is
important.

Occasional Chores

As indicated previously, the dairy
farmer spends a large amount of time
and effort on tasks that are done now
and then. These tasks are essential

but they come as emergencies, as spe-
cial problems, or as jobs that are done
infrequently. Very little information
is available as to these occasional
chores. Seven dairymen, each with
about 40 cows, were interviewed with
reference to the time taken to do
these tasks. The data are shown in
Table 2. At the present time these
operations take nearly 700 man hours
annually on a 40-cow herd. This is
equivalent to 17.5 man hours per cow
annually. Operators can profit by
giving attention to ways and means
of doing these tasks more efficiently.

Table 2

Average man hours spent annually in doing occasional dairy chores on seven
large dairy farms. (Four of the farms had approximately 40 cows and three
had about 50 cows. The data from the 50-cow farms were adjusted to a

40-cow basis.)
Man
No. Hours Chore

Attending to cows at calving time.

Working on swollen or damaged udders, etc.

Caring for sick cows.

Breeding.

Training first calf heifers.

Helping to unload grain from truck to storage.

Supplying sawdust for bedding.

Adjusting water bowls.

Rearranging cows in stalls.

Studying production records and breeding program.

Spraying barn.

Spraying cows.

Cleaning windows and ceilings.

Selling or buying cows.

Cleaning vacuum pipe.

Shoveling snow and plowing snow to clear doors and
passageways.

Clipping cows.

Overhauling milking equipment.

Adjusting windows or checking ventilations.

Folding, counting, and tying feed bags.

Driving cows to and from pasture.

Attaching salt blocks.

Figuring rations.

Observing animals.

Other.

677.9 Total occasional chores.

68.0

10.4

13.4

20.8

3.9

26.3

126.3

7.6

4.6

28.6

5.1

15.1

24.6

19.3

4.1

16.6

30.3

21.1

8.6

9.3

157.1

4.0

4.5

24.7

23.6

IX Chore Schedules

So far each chore task has been and equipment are adequate. These
discussed as an individual item. are summarized in Table 1.
Present practices were described, im- These estimates of labor needed to
proved methods were suggested, and do the daily chores associated with a
a definite number of man minutes herd of 40 cows total 360 man min-
needed to do each task were stated utes. If a five-minute rest period
as guides. The quantitative esti- just prior to milking is practiced, an
mates of labor for each task were additional 20 man minutes would be
based on actual records on good added where two men milk, bringing
farms, adjusted to a 40-cow herd ba- the total to 380 man minutes. Some
sis. They indicate the authors' judg- allowance should be made for inter-
ment as to the time needed for an ruptions and emergencies. If the
average man — one who is interested men are doing hard physical work
and trained in good chore procedure — during the day, the chores are likely
working in a barn where facilities to be performed at a slower rate.

Winter Schedule

a.m.
5.50

6.00

6.10

6.20

6.30

6.40

6.50

7.00

7.10

7.20
a.m.

Operator
I 2

I I
I I

Core
milk

a.m.
8.00

8.10

8.20

Operator
I 2

\\\
\\\
\S V

\\\
\ \\

\\^

\ \

v\-^

^2ZZ3

8.30 c

I »"5 I

I Oo I
O I

8.40

8.50
9.00
9. 10
9.20

9.30 k
a.m.

O - 1

Operator

p.m. , 2
4.40

4.50

5.00

5.10

5.20

5.30

5.40

5.50

6.00

6.10
p.m.

o I jCq
mi

I I Milking
Feeding
Gleaning

++4
111

Bedding

Currying

Equipment

Fig. 47. Efficient individual chores were put together syn-
thetically in this schedule for two men in a 40-cow
stable (35 cows milking). Proper layout of equip-
ment was provided.

Sequence of Chore Tasks

Records covering chore activities
on 33 farms* indicate no particular
pattern of sequence in which chore
practices are undertaken. Five oper-
ators followed the order of feeding
grain, milking, and feeding hay be-
fore breakfast and repeated these
tasks in the same order before sup-
per. Milking was the first chore in
the morning on nine farms. Ten
milked after supper. A few fed hay
or silage before milking in the morn-
ing. One operator curried cows be-
fore milking in the morning.

Apparently there is a wide choice of
sequence in the order of doing dairy
chores and, as far as known, without
affecting production. Practically all
operators planned to have not less
than an 11-hour interval between be-
ginning morning and night milkings.
The one exception to this began milk-
ing at 6:00 a. m. and at 4:00 p. m.—
a ten-hour interval. Over one-half
planned to have not over 11% hours'
interval between morning and night
milkings. It may be important to
have the intervals between milkings
not more than 13 hours because the
cow tends to reduce milk secretion
when the pressure in the udder be-
comes tense. Consequently there may
be some loss in production if the in-
terval between milkings is extended.

For high quality of milk, silage and
other feeds with strong odors should
be fed after, rather than before, milk-
ing. It also may be important not
to have frequent major changes in
the order of chores, especially in re-
spect to feeding, but otherwise the
operator has considerable leeway in
the order of doing daily chores.

Schedule of Chore Tasks

One of the purposes of this study
is to project the efficiencies of all the

individual tasks by reorganization of
chore work as a whole. The next
step is an attempt to integrate the 22
individual chore practices previously
discussed into an efficient total sched-
ule. Fig. 47 represents one schedule
for two men on a 40-cow farm. This
schedule for the winter months was
developed synthetically but each in-
dividual practice was based on the de-
tailed studies and projected estimates
described previously. The schedule
assumes a good layout, two skilled
men who have worked out a good
barn management program. The data
shown in Fig. 47 are intended as de-
scriptions of the possibilities.

The authors of this bulletin have
not attempted, and in fact have not
had an opportunity, to test out this
particular schedule under actual barn
conditions. Instead they have had to
depend on actual time schedules ob-
served on cooperating farms where
most, but not all, chores were done
efficiently. In every case there were
handicaps due to layout and delays
in doing one or more tasks. The re-
sults on two farms are indicated in
Figs. 48 and 49. In total time*, con-
verted to a 40-cow herd, one farm
was 42 man minutes under the syn-
thetic schedule and the other 37 man
minutes above the schedule. The rec-
ords of these actual chore perform-
ances on two farms give a favorable
indication that the synthetic schedule
can be attained and that chores can
be done quickly.

Similar records on these two farms
were taken in 1942, 1949, and in 1950.
The barn facilities and the number
of animals were practically the same
at each period. There had been a
change in workers and in practices.
The changes in chore time on these
two farms are shown in Fig. 50. Prog-

* These were specialized dairy fai-ms with
more than 20 cows. The farms studied in
detail were not included.

* Time on equipment was not obtained in
full in either case and so the comparison must
be made on basis of not including this item.
The cases represented by Fig. 48 and 49 took
268 and 347 man minutes (40-cow basis),
respectively, as compared to 310 in the syn-
thetic schedule.

operator
a.m. I 2

5.00

5.10

5.20

5.30

5.40

5.50

6.00

6.10

6.20

6.30
a.m.

v>>""^

cz:

777777.

I I

FARM NO. I

Operator
a.m. j 2

7.00

7.10
720
7.30
7.40

7.50
8.00
8.10
8.20

8.30
a.m.

*/////{

Operator
p.m. I 2

4.00 r

4.10
4.20
4.30
4.40

4.50

5.00

5.10 -

5.20 -

5.30 -
p.m.

IZH

V?.

•W^M

□

I I Milking
Feeding
Cleaning

Bedding
Currying

Fig. 48. This is a schedule based on the actual records of two men taking care
care of 58 cows and heifers, 36 of them milking.

FARM NO. 2

Operator Operator

a.m. I 2 ^•'^' I

5.20 P^ ^ 8.00

5.30

5.40

5.50

6.00

6.10

6.20

6.30

6.40

6.50

7.00
a.m.

\ \ s
\\^
\ \ V

\ \ K

\\\

8.10

8.20

8.30

8.40

8.50

9.00

9.10

9.20

9.30

9.40
a.m.

Operator
p.m. I 2

4.00 wm

4.10
4.20

4.30
4.40
4.50
5.00
5.10
5.20
5.30

5.40
p.m.

□ Milking
Feeding
Gleaning

Bedding
Currying

Fig. 49. This is a schedule taken from the actual records of two
men taking care of 40 cows, 34 of them milking.

ress had been made over an eight-
year period. In one case from 473 to
248 man minutes and in the other
case from 541 to 329 man minutes.

Summer Chore Schedules

Chore work so far has been related
to the winter barn stabling period. In
the pasture season and also for a
short period in fall and spring some
tasks can be eliminated entirely and
others done partially or occasionally.
Milking, care of equipment, and feed-
ing grain require about the same ef-
fort and time. Occasionally in spring
and fall the cows get their udders and
teats covered with mud and their
preparation for milking requires ex-
tra time and upsets the milking
schedule. Fencing off certain , wet
areas or spreading gravel in the
yards may reduce this difficulty. Cows
are tied up and turned out twice a
day. Cleaning the barn and spread-
ing bedding require very little time.
Fig. 51 describes one schedule for
doing the chores on a 40-cow herd,
where two men work together to ac-
complish both morning and evening
chores. Both men would be available
for field or other work from 8.:00 a. m.
to 4:30 p. m.

Fig. 51 also describes a modifica-
tion of this schedule: one man doing
all the evening chores in order to
permit the other man to continue
field work. One man starting after-
noon chores at 4:00 p. m. would com-
plete the task at about 6:40 p. m.

April and October Schedule

At the present time most farmers
house their cows from October 1
through April, a period of seven
months. The chores during October
and April are usually about the same
as in midwinter except that many
have their cows outside for several
hours on good days. A full chore
schedule in the barn in these months
tends to delay completion of fall field
woi'k and handicaps spring work.

The chore work for these months
can be reduced by planning in ad-
vance so that roughage can be fed
outside with very little labor. Forty
cows will consume from 6 to 15 tons
of hay per month, depending on the
amount of silage fed and the size of
the cows. If an operator plans to
feed 12 tons of hay in October and 12
tons in April, he can build two inex-
pensive hay self-feeders (Fig. 52) in
separate yards near the barn to hold
about 12 tons each. He can fill these
with his usual hay harvest methods in
haying season. Supplies of hay are
available to the cattle by opening the
gate. Some dairymen supplement
their pastures every year by feeding
hay for a limited period every sum-
mer. Most dairymen do this in very
dry summers. The same procedure
of using a self-feeder would be con-
venient in this summer period. Three
12-ton self-feeders in separate small
yards would enable the operator to
use one of these for each of the three
periods:, spring, summer and fall.
These self-feeders need not be expen-
sive.

MAN

MINUTES

600 n

500 -

400

300

200

100

1945 1949 1950

Fig. 50.

FARM A FARM B

This indicates the progress
in chore work on two farms.
Most cooperating farms
made progress at the be-
ginning and then leveled
off. These two operators
persisted. All data are ad-
justed to a 40-cow herd (35
milking).

Summer Schedule

o.m.
5.40

5.50

6.00

6.10

6.20

6.30

6.40

6.50

7.00

7.10

7.20
Q.m.

Operator
I 2

■I i-

p.m.
4.00

4.10

4.20

4.30 f

4.40

4.50

5.00

5.10

5.20

5.30

5.40

5.50

6.00
p.m.

Both men available for field work
from 6,00 a.m. to about 4,30 p.m.
(one hour out for dinner)

1 -1

Operotor
I 2

□ Milking
^ Feeding
Cleaning
Equipment

I — I

o
u

jyiut

Summer Schedule

a.m.

5.40

5.50 i°-;

6.00
6.10
6.20
6.30
6.40

Operator
I 2

I In I

6.50

IJl

7.00

7.10
a.m.

6.30

One mon ovailoble for D.*tVJ
field work from 8.00a.m. p.m.
to 4.00p.m. the other ovoilabie
from 8,00 a.m. for the rest of the day

p.m
4.00

Operator
I

4.10
4.20 ^^-i
4.30
4.40

4.50
5.00
5.10
5.20
5.30
5.40
5.50
6.00
6.10

6.20 Hh

Sore'

iMilki
I 1

>
o

Silage also can be fed outside in
October and April. In this case the
silo room can be remodelled so that a
silo cart on wheels or suspended from
a carrier track can be filled directly
from the silo and pushed through an
outside door to feed bunks in the
yard (Fig. 53). Or an operator can
construct a silo in the open yard and
build facilities so that he can push
the cart in one direction from the silo
to feed the cows and in the other to
feed young stock (Fig. 54). The silo
cart can operate on flanged wheels
using the feed bunk sides as a track.
A double trap door arrangement at
the bottom of the cart distributes the
silage at the control of the operator
as he pushes the cart along on top
of the feed bunks. This practice has
been in use in the cattle feeding areas
for many years. Suppose a farmer
planned to feed out 40 tons of silage
to his cows and young stock during
August to supplement pastui'e, and
also to feed out 40 tons in October
and 40 tons in April. A small 80-
ton silo 14 by 30 feet could be built
in the open yard. This could be filled
with grass silage in early summer and
half of it fed out in August. It could
then be refilled with corn silage in
early September. Half of it could be
fed out in October and the other half
in April.

A successful design of silos for
self-feeding has been reported by the
New Jersey Experiment Station.*
This may prove to be a practical way
for feeding silage to dairy cows in the
spring and fall months. These silos
are not completely automatic but
only a few minutes would be required
occasionally in regulating the feeding

CHOPPED HAY

* Mimeograph Report : Progress Report on
the Development of Structures Designed for
the Se'f -feeding of Hay and Ensilage by C. H.
Reed, Department of Agricultural Engineering,
College of Agriculture, Rutgers University,
The State University of New Jersey.

Fig. 52. Sketch of an outdoor hay
self-feeder. Three of these
12 ton self-feeders each in
a separate small yard would
supply the cows with 12
tons in April, 12 tons in the
August short pasture season
and 12 tons in October. This
would involve very little la-
bor in feeding. The arrows
at the right show the action
of the swinging baffle.

rail. These are still in experimental
stage.

Arrangements made to feed all
roughage in self-feeders outside dur-
ing April and October would reduce
the full winter schedule of chore work
to five months or 150 days.

Fig. 56 describes one chore schedule
for April and October. In this sched-
ule the second man returns to the
barn after breakfast, completing the
forenoon chores above. The first man
is free to start field work immediately
after breakfast and can continue un-
til nearly 5:00 p. m. Both men milk
morning and afternoon.

These schedules indicate that two
men can take care of 40 cows with
considerable leeway in the middle of
the day. Observations have been

Fig. 51. Two summer chore schedules (synthetic). In Schedule B one of
the workers does all the evening chore work, permitting the other
man to work in the field.

CARRIER

BUNK

BARN

Fig. 53. Arrangements can be made to feed silage outside in October and
April. These sketches show how a cart can be filled from the silo
and moved to feed bunks outdoors.

made on farms where two men were
taking care of 50 cows. No doubt
these men could take care of 60 cows.
There is no intent to make recom-
mendations as to the number of cows
which operators should carry. The
authors feel that in many instances a
more flexible organization can be had
by not budgeting the labor of skilled
dairymen too tightly on chore work.

It is better instead to use some of the
labor between chores on other enter-
prises. Then in case of emergency
there is a better chance to keep the
dairy going properly. The number of
cows involves management decisions
that should be made in the light of
the over-all situation on the individu-
al farm.

FEED BUNKS

YOUNG STOCK

FEED BUNKS

COWS

Fig. 54. A small silo in the open yard can be used on large farms to feed
cows and young stock in spring and fall.

X Barn Design

Layout and facilities for efficient
chore work should be one of the ma-
jor problems in building a new barn
or in remodelling an old one. Barn
construction costs are large but so
are the labor costs in taking care of
milk cows. If we include chore la-
bor, "It is the upkeep that costs."
The wrong kind of layout and facili-
ties can easily represent an annual
cost of $1,000 or more on a large
dairy farm.

The stakes are sufficiently great so
that the operator can afford to de-
vote months to his planning of lay-
out and facilities. Most dairymen are
in a transition stage and will prob-
ably be operating differently and on
a larger scale five or ten years from
now. Plans for construction should
take into account the operator's best
judgment of his future as well as his
present organization. Thus he may
build in such a way as to serve pres-
ent needs and yet with sufficient flex-
ibility to serve future needs. One
end of the barn, preferably the end
where the cleaning center is erected,
could be constructed in such a way
that a one-story addition could be
added whenever needed to house ad-
ditional cows. At this time it is dif-
ficult to predict how roughage will be
handled on a given farm five years
from now. An individual operator,
however, may visualize that he will
eventually have 100 tons of grass si-
lage, 125 tons of corn silage, and 60
tons of chopped hay. He may well
plan his construction accordingly, per-
haps outlining a construction pro-
gram to be developed as needed. If
he decides that he can feed hay or
silage outdoors to advantage for sev-
eral months of the year, he can re-
duce the roughage storage space in
the barn.

Special attention should be given
to the location of storage facilities

so that materials can be gotten in and
out easily and yet will conform to the
best pattern of chore work. (See
Chapter IV on work centers.) The
use of mechanical aids, such as carts
and conveyors, will no doubt increase
in the next ten years. Adequate space
in alleyways leading from feed work
center to feed alley will be very im-
portant. If feed carts are to be used,
the travel route should be free of
dips. Considerable energy and time
is required to turn a lai*ge silage cart
in an inadequate space or to push it
uphill. There should be a handy and
adequate space for every cart t-he
operator expects to use. For in-
stance, if a man plans to use a grain
cart, a larger mechanical silage cart,
and a sawdust cart, special provision
should be made in the feed work cen-
ter so that the grain cart and silage
cart are in position to be filled in
place and yet are out of the way of
other activities. The sawdust cart
should be so located that it can also
be filled in place and yet not inter-
fere with other chores.

Since the trend is toward some me-
chanical means of cleaning gutters,
the arrangement of the barn layout
should be made with this in mind. It
is desirable to leave space in the con-
crete floor for installation of con-
veyor, etc., to make it easier to in-

TRENCH SILO

BUNKS
YOUNG STOCK

Fig. 55. Silage stored in trench silo
also can be fed outside in
bunks.

Spring and Foil Schedule

cows HOUSED AT NIGHT

Q.m.
5.50

6.00

6.10

6.20

6.30

6.40

6.50

7.00

7.10

7.20
Q.m,

Operator

■ V)

1 o

,^ t

Q.m.
8.00

8.10

Operator

8.20 i

8.30

8.40

8.50

9.00

9.10

9.2011

9.30
a.m.

p.m.
4.30

4.40

4.50

5.00

5.10

5.20

5.30

5.40

5.50

6.00
p.m.

Operator
I 2

r— I

3
o
o

G
C

> 1
-J

lrnjl.Kj

First man available for field work from SiOOa.m. to 4.00 p. m,
Second man available for field work from 9i45o,m.to 4.30 p. mi

|~| Milking

Feeding
Cleaning

+■•■+

Bedding
Equipment

Fig. 56. A spring and fall chore schedule (synthetic). One
man completes the after-breakfast morning chores
alone, thus permitting the other man to use tractor
and equipment.

■■

'.SA ."^ew^ •

1^^ »-*w

Fig. 57.

In remodelling the barn, the stable was extended well beyond the
old barn and adequate space was provided for a feed work center.
The old barn has adequate hay capacity for the larger herd.

stall a barn cleaner at a later date.

The intent of this section on barn
design is not to discuss or mention all
the important labor saving situations
in a barn that may be important five

years hence, but to emphasize the
need for dairy farmers to study their
chore problems in some detail before
building a barn or remodelling. (See
Appendix II.)

XI Calves

The previous sections have been
confined to the chores associated di-
rectly with care of cows. This sec-
tion is devoted to the work with
calves.

The operator of a 40-cow farm in
this state will usually have from two

to six cows freshening each month.*
He will select from 10 to 13 heifer
calves a year to raise as replacements.

* U N H Agricultural Experiment Station
Technical Bulletin 86 (1945), Analysis of Cer-
tain Factors Involved in Dairy Herd Manage-
ment in New Hampshire by K. S. Morrow,
H. A. Keener, and C. N. Hall.

^ Vt JSt^j^iiiSSC 5i

Fig. 58. Small 4x4 pens with arrangements to protect the animal from
drafts is recommended for the first ten days of the calf's life. Note
heat lamp above the calf.

Thus he will usually have a few
calves to feed and care for at all
periods of the year. During the first
months of their existence these calves
must have special care. The bull
calves and the heifer calves not se-
lected for raising are usually dis-
posed of at an early age.

Present Practices

A few operators had not made spe-
cial provisions for housing calves.
They tied them up with collar and
rope in alleyways or most any place
where space seemed semi-available.
These arrangements required extra
time and were a handicap in the per-
formance of other chores.

Usually small pens holding three
or four calves were available. Most
of these were pens without any spe-
cial equipment. Whether tied or in

pens, with a few exceptions, the op-
erator fed calves one at a time using
one hand to hold the pail and the
other to wield a switch to fend off the
other calves. From one-half to one
minute is required for a calf to con-
sume the feeding of milk or mixture.
So the feeding of 10 or more calves
can take considerable time if the
methods are obsolete.

The watering of older calves re-
quired a lot of time on some farms.
In a few instances the hired man
waited for water because of lack of
pressure. Watering with one pail
when the source of water is not con-
venient is not efficient. Where hot
water was used in preparing a spe-
cial mix for the calves, there was a
tendency to make several trips from
the milk house with small containers.
On one farm 42.7 man minutes daily

were spent in feeding 12 calves a
special mix.

A few operators had developed spe-
cial facilities for calves and could
feed them to better advantage. About
four calves were confined in each small
pen. Provision was made at the
manger end of the pen so that each
calf could be tied up in a stanchion
and released quickly. A holder in
front of each stanchion held the pail
in place so that a calf could not over-
turn it, and yet it could be placed or
removed quickly and easily. At feed-
ing time the operator placed the pails
in the holders and tied up the calves.
He returned later to collect the pails
and release the calves.

Each pen was equipped with a self-
fed hay rack which was kept filled.
Grain was fed either in the manger
or in the calf pails.

Efficient Practices

The calf should have special at-
tention during the first week. One
procedure is confinement individually
in very small pens 4 feet x 4 feet for
about 10 days (Fig. 58). Such pens
can be lined with plywood or heavy
canvas to protect the calf from drafts.
In the winter months heat lamps can
be used if the temperature in these

MANGER

SELF-
FEEDERy

oi on^io

4 STANCHIONS

PLYWOOD DIVISION
BOARD

CALF PAIL

PEN FOR
4 YOUNG CALVES

WATER
BOWL

HAY SELF-FEEDER

Fig. 59. Floor plan of a calf pen for
calves ten days to three
months of age.

small calf pens drops below 50 de-
grees. Three pens of this size will usu-
ally suffice for a 40-cow herd. Two
calves can occupy a pen if necessary.
These very small pens should be
cleaned daily.

MANGER

PLYWOOD DIVISION

BOARD -k

WATER BOWL

Fig, 60. Side view of the calf pen, shown in Fig. 59.

At the end of ten days the calves
can be grouped in larger pens (Fig.
59), A pen about 6x8 feet will
handle five small calves. These pens
should be located in a fairly warm
place that is free of drafts. It is
suggested that four or five stanchions
be installed at one end so that all
can be opened or closed quickly. Spe-
cial holders should be made to keep
the calf pails in place at the manger
level.

If special calf pails with nipples
are used, a holder can be installed
which will enable the operator to
quickly put the pail in a secure posi-
tion for the calf. With this arrange-
ment, if there are 10 calves to be fed,
the operator can carry the 10 calf
pails and 60 pounds of milk in one

trip. If pails are filled in the milk
house, the ten can be carried by
means of a special long rod. If the
operator chooses to distribute the
milk into individual pails at a point
near the calf pens, he can carry the
milk in a large can along with the
ten empty pails. He can put a pail
in each holder for a calf, close to the
stanchion. He can return a few min-
utes later to open the stanchions and
collect the pails. A small plywood
or metal division between the calves
will discourage the sucking of ears,
etc., while tied in the stanchion. The
task of feeding 10 calves twice a day
can be done in about 15 minutes. Pens
of calves over six weeks of age can
be cleaned two or three times a week
in busy periods.

XII Young Stock

Chores in caring for young stock
varied greatly on different farms.
Where heifers were quartered in
stanchions in the same stable with
the cows, chore tasks were often
merged. Little difference was noted
in the methods used or in the time
required per head in feeding, in bed-
ding, or in cleaning gutters. The la-
bor requirements tended to be inflex-
ible as to the time of day, due to the
close association with chores on cows.
In farms producing fluid milk and
subject to rigid inspection, good san-
itary conditions in the main cow
stable, including the part occupied by
young stock and bulls, must be main-
tained at all times.

Present Practices

Where young stock were quartered
in a separate barn, there was more
flexibility as to when the tasks were
done and in the methods used. On one
farm 53 head of young stock were

tied up in the main barn in stanchions
and 138 man minutes were spent
daily in caring for them. On one
other farm, where 30 head of young
stock were tied in stanchions in a
separate barn, 88 minutes were spent
on the daily chores. The layout and
facilities were not too efficient, but
the operator did have considerable
leeway as to when he worked in the
young stock barn. This is the sched-
ule:

Time spent
(minutes)
Feeding hay twice daily (total) 34.6

Turn out and tie up 7.2

Feed grain 5.2

Feed silage 11.5

Sweep manger 1.0

Manure disposal 16.1

Bedding 8.5

Sweep gutter alleyway 3.9

88.0

A few operators had remodelled old
barns especially for young stock and
confined six to eight heifers of simi-
lar age in each of several pens. In
one case 28 heifers were grouped in
four pens on the ground floor of an

old barn. Two large hay self-feed-
ers, each servicing two pens, were
easily and quickly filled from the floor
above. Each pen was equipped with
a water bowl. Silage and grain were
fed daily in a long manger in each
pen. The operator added new bed-
ding each day and cleaned the pens
once a week. While considerable
sawdust bedding was required, the
operator felt he kept the amount to
a minimum by weekly cleaning.

All the daily tasks were completed
in one trip to the barn and required
about 25 man minutes. This was
about one man minute daily per heif-
er. About 180 man minutes were
spent once a week in cleaning the
pens and preparing for the next week.
Because hay and water were always
available to the heifers, there was
considerable leeway as to when the
operator visited this barn and the
weekly chore of cleaning could be
done within a range of several days.
Thus the labor requirements on these
heifers were quite flexible.

The heifers under six months of
age wei-e usually quartered in the
main cow barn and received more fre-
quent attention.

Efficient Practices

One arrangement for housing
young stock loose in pens is indicated
in Fig. 61. Note that the stock in
each pen has access to a small open
yard. Due to a wide doorway in
front, tractor power can be used in
cleaning out manure. The feeding
of hay in self-feeders is convenient.
Grain and silage can be fed in the
manger. Automatic water bowls are
installed in a protected area of each
pen. In order to prevent freezing,
the water pipes can be laid under-

12 Heifers
yearling

4a0 SQUARE FEET

O^Woter eoMis

12 Heifers

under
10 months

360 SQUARE FEET

Fig. 61. Floor plan of a pen hous-
ing young stock.

ground to a point directly under the
bowls and lead heating cable can be
used if necessary in the coldest
weather.

An operator can usually find a con-
venient way to feed silage to young
stock even if they are quartered in a
separate barn. When as many as 30
head of young stock are carried, a
small silo can be attached to the
barn, and the silage fed either in
bunks inside or outside the building,
depending on the weather. In case
this is not feasible on a particular
farm, the operator can remodel his
present silo room and install a car-
rier track so that silage can be taken
directly from the silo to the young
stock feed bunks. The silage car-
rier can be equipped with double trap
doors which will eliminate hand work
in unloading. Grain can be distrib-
uted on top of the silage and par-
tially mixed with it so that these
concentrates will be more evenly dis-
tributed when fed to loose cattle.

It is estimated that 30 young stock
can be cared for in 35 man minutes
daily, with additional time occasional-
ly in cleaning. The older heifers
would be transferred to the main
barn two or three weeks before fresh-
ening so that they will handle more
easily when first milked.

XIII Application of Study to Typical Farms

The data for this study have been
obtained mostly on dairy farms with
30 to 60 cows. Much of the analysis
has been pointed toward the manage-
ment of a large herd. How can the
results be related realistically and
economically to the dairy farms of the
state when only 14 per cent of the
commercial dairy farms have over
20 cows and only a limited number
carry as many as 40 cows? The an-
swer is that this study has been di-
rected as much toward the small op-
erator, who is, or vdll be, expanding
his herd, as toward the operators of
large farms. The dairy industry in
New Hampshire is going through a
transition period in which operations
on many small farms must either be
expanded or discontinued. Due to
rough topography and small irregu-
lar fields, modern field equipment can-
not be used advantageously on some
farms. Operators are so greatly
handicapped in production that the
financial returns are inadequate. The
dairy enterprise will probably be
abandoned on such farms in the next
10 years. Expansion to a greater
herd size on such farms would require
additional labor. This is not prac-
tical under the conditions where out-
put per man is, and would continue
to be, very small.

Trend Toward Larger Farms

On the other hand, the trend on
aggressively operated good farms is
toward 30 to 50 cows. Many of the
farms now carrying small herds can
be reorganized to produce economical-
ly sufficient roughage for 30 to 40
cows. This can be accomplished by
more intensive land management, by
the addition of tillage land by pur-
chase or lease, or by clearing new
fields. Thus many operators have or
can eventually obtain the potential

land resources for the development
of a 30- to 40-cow enterprise.

Some of these already have ac-
quired expensive field equipment ade-
quate for the production of roughage
for 40 cows. Often this equipment
cannot be used economically until
roughage production has been in-
creased. These operators have had
the personal experience of owning
and operating equipment which is
sufficiently efficient in output per hour
to accomplish all the field work in a
few weeks' operation per year. With
both machines and manpower under-
employed, the operators have a bet-
ter understanding of their potential
opportunities. As a result they are
exploring ways and means of expan-
sion. This study is especially di-
rected to these operators who are or
will be expanding their herds. The
contents of this bulletin may aid
them in realizing that one man can
care for a large number of cows, if
the barn facilities are adequate and
if the operator adopts good practices.

The possible application of these
data to several farm situations is dis-
cussed briefly in the next few para-
graphs. Each situation is typical of
a group of farms.

The Small Farm

It is recognized that the adoption
of better chore practices as suggested
in this bulletin will have very little
financial benefit to the small farmer
who for one reason or another con-
tinues to have only a few cows. Effi-
cient chore practices can benefit such
a farmer financially only if he is or
will be interested in developing a good
dairy unit.

The Potentially Good Dairy Farm

This typical farm contains 40 acres
of good tillage, 30 acres of pasture,

and 50 acres of woodland. Present
roughage production supports 12
cows and 8 young stock. Additional
tillage land can be purchased at rea-
sonable agricultural value or leased
for a period of years. The buildings
are adequate for the present small
herd. The 35-year-old operator has
ability, but has to finance improve-
ments partially from current income.
The adoption of more efficient chore
practices would not increase his in-
come immediately. The gross income
and cash expenses would be un-
changed at first. On the other hand,
he is in the midst of potential op-
portunities. He has the chance of
getting control of and developing
sufficient land resources for a 40-cow
herd.

However, he is now quite busy
looking after 12 cows. He needs the
personal experience of doing chores
quickly and easily before he can fully
visualize how he can handle a larger
herd. If he adopts efficient chore
practices along with improved field
practices, he will have a greater ap-
preciation of possibilities and will
be more interested in developing
them. While he may be very busy
with 12 cows at present, the adop-
tion of efficient practicies will give
him more time for work on develop-
ing his land and barn facilities. In-
creased financial returns from adop-
tion of efficient practices would be-
gin with the increased output from
a larger herd. In this case efficient
chore practices are an essential part
of "know how" which will be needed
by the operator in developing a good
dairy unit.

Large and Inefficient- Farms

This typical farm now carries over
50 cows. The operator is interested
in cows and is a skilled dairyman and
obtains good production which is sold
on a special market. However, pres-
ent practices require about five men.

Some chore practices are done quite
efficiently; others are time consum-
ing. The general work organization
is confusing. Men tend to be in each
other's way. There is much travel
the full length of the barn. Actually
there exists under-employment of
workers which is not apparent with-
out close observation of what the
men are doing and how they are
working in relation to each other. The
larger the herd and the more numer-
ous the workers, the more essential
is good chore management.

Incidentally, the economic position
of the 10-cow farmer was questioned
in previous pages. Is the position of
the large dairyman using the labor
of 5 men to care for 50 cows any
more secure? He has the same ratio
of men to cows and usually of men
to total output. A large dairyman
may be successful because of a spe-
cial market and in spite of inefficient
chore work. He will benefit imme-
diately by adoption of good chore
practices and the reduction of hired
labor force.

The Older Operator

This farm could be developed by
aggressive management to carry 30
cows, but the 58-year-old operator,
because of age and health, has de-
cided to continue with a 20-cow herd.

The adoption of better chore prac-
tice can reduce the physical burden
of feeding, milking, and cleaning the
barn. This should enable him to con-
tinue with his present output for sev-
eral years without hiring additional
help. The outlay of capital for im-
provements can be held at a minimum.
Yet the farm will be maintained at a
level which would eventually interest
a younger, more aggressive operator.

The immediate income would not
be increased; the operator, however,
would extend his productive earning
period. His property would continue
to have fair sales value to other oper-

ators when he retires. He has much
to gain from adoption of better chore
methods.

The Time Saved

In general, large operators have
an opportunity of raising their in-
come immediately by adoption of ef-
ficient chore practices because they
can usually operate with less hired
help. The farmer increasing his op-
erations and the size of his herd can
benefit from more efficient chores be-
cause he can expand without hiring
additional labor. The small operator
who expects to continue with a small
herd will not usually benefit financial-
ly, but he might have more leisure.

The labor of the operator and that
of the year-round hired men tend to
have the characteristics of fixed costs.
Their cost continues whether or not
their labor is used efficiently. If
these fixed costs, which are usually
large on a dairy farm, can be spread
over a larger herd and consequently
greater output, the combination of
fixed and variable costs will be less
per unit of product. On the other
hand, the adoption of more efficient
chore practices, without other change
such as more cows or fewer men, may

reduce the hours of labor on a given
farm. But the total cost and total
gross sales and income may continue
unchanged. The net income can be
increased only by lowering the total
cost or raising the gross sales.

Thus the adoption of efficient chore
practices can increase the operator's
money income only if it will reduce
the cash expense for labor and other
items or increase the output. If the
expansion requires considerable out-
lay of capital for enlarging buildings
or purchasing more land, these costs
must not be ignored. In some cases
they may be sufficiently great to make
expansion uneconomic and unprofit-
able, even if both field work and chore
work are done efficiently when mea-
sured by output per worker.

Due to the improved practices in
both field and barn, the trend is defi-
nitely toward larger herds and great-
er output. Thus the individual dairy-
man faces a challenge of reorganiz-
ing his farm so that he can produce
the roughage and handle more cows
on an efficient family type basis. Ef-
ficiency in chore work is an essential
part of the "know how" needed in
organizing and carrying on a modern
dairy farm.

Appendix I

Most of the chore items are self
explanatory and need no description
here. However, certain tasks and
time required need explanation.

Milking

This includes all time associated
with milking, beginning with the
preparation of the first cow to the
emptying of milk from the last cow.
Included are preparation of cows, op-
erating machines, machine stripping,
hand stripping, pouring milk from
milker pails, hand milking, carrying
milk to milk house, pouring into
strainer and waiting. If a worker

during the milking period did some
other chore, his time was charged to
that task, but if he vsTaited for the
machine, this was considered part
of the milking job.

Care of Equipment-

This included assembling milking
machines and milk pails and carry-
ing them to the area in the barn
where milking starts, the preparation
of shipping cans for milk, the as-
sembly of strainers and placement
on shipping cans, the rinsing of
equipment, the dismantling and wash-
ing of milking machines, strainers

and othei' equipment, and flushing of
the milk room floor.

Since on several retail farms the
equipment was taken care of in as-
sociation with other tasks by other
workers, an accurate description was
not available on these farms. In the
summary totals this item was left
out in comparing farms.

Care of Milk

Data concerning this item were not
available on a few farms, especially
retail milk farms, and was not in-
cluded in the summary on most farms.
Where data were available, it included
the preparation of filled cans and
their placement in the milk cooler at
the end of milking. Some of this
work was accomplished during milk-
ing while straining milk. In this
case the time was not charged against
care of milk.

In all cases the time included the
travel from the point of completion
of the previous job and the travel to
return the tools or equipment to their
proper place.

Feeding

Silage preparation included travel
into and out of the silo, forking silage
from the silo, and sweeping the silo
room floor.

Grain preparation included all la-
bor in moving grain from storage and
emptying sacks, etc.

Hay preparation included all la-
bor in moving hay from storage to
the feed floor.

Feeding included the actual dis-
tribution of each kind of feed to the
cows. For instance, the care of grain
included the travel to the grain cart,
the pushing of the cart to the feed
alley, the actual dishing out of grain,
and finally the pushing of the cai't to
the usual storage place.

Pushing Feed to Cows

Pushing feed to cows included the
labor involved in pushing back feed
which had been nosed out of the
manger by the cows.

Sweeping Manger

Sweeping the manger included
cleaning the manger by sweeping or
other means and removing the ma-
terial.

Cleaning

Manure disposal included all labor
in removing the manure from the
gutter directly to the manure spread-
er or to the manure pile. It did not
include the labor involved in getting
the tractor and spreader to the prop-
er place, the trip to the field to spread
the manure, or driving the tractor
back to its usual storage place. Where
barn cleaners were installed, manure
disposal included the time of the man
operating the tractor during the pe-
riod in which the cleaner was oper-
ating. It also included all labor as-
sociated with opening doors and mov-
ing ramps, before and after starting
the cleaner.

Appendix II

In exploring ways and means of
doing each essential task easily and
quickly, and in studying chore man-
agement problems, some attention
was given to ideas and the develop-
ment of ideas that were beyond the
scope of the study — at least beyond

the available funds and training of
the leaders.

The ideas may or may not be prac-
tical. However, the authors are de-
scribing several of them with the
hope that researchers with engineer-
ing skill and capacity to take risks

Frame Work for
Chopped Hoy

Frame Work
for
Baled Hay

Portable Bejt^
Conveyor

-i-T~rn---r
I I I I I I I

Fig. 62. This diagram is shown to describe the continuous mow outlet open-
ing. Research and trial are suggested.

may explore their possibilities.

The following descriptions of four
untried ideas are made merely as rec-
ommendations for further exploration
and research by agricultural engi-
neers :

1. The continuous mow outlet
opening: (a) designed for chopped
hay, and (b) designed for baled hay.

2. Facilities for emergency al-
ternatives to daily hauling and dis-
tribution of manure.

3. Easier silage preparation.

4. Special milk strainer.

Continuous Mow Outlef Opening

This idea suggests a continuous
four-foot wide opening, or more ac-
curately, a continuous series of 4 x 4
foot openings the full length of the
barn in the middle of the mow floor
(Fig. 62). These would be immedi-
ately over the feed floor of the cow
stable. A double joist on four-foot
centers would permit individual
openings about 4 feet x 3 feet 8
inches. Below these openings, eight-
foot long double doors each two feet
wide would be hinged at the ceiling.
Each set of double doors would close
two mow openings from below.

This arrangement seemed to open
up a number of combinations or pos-
sibilities in moving chopped hay or
baled hay out of the mow to the feed
floor. Two of the possible structures
over the openings and extending the

full len^h of the barn will be men-
tioned. The first is designed for
chopped hay and the second, for baled
hay.

The first type (Fig. 63) would be
a framework three feet high and six
feet wide to protect the openings
from the weight of hay above. These
could be built so as to have free
clearance on the sides. Ignoring for
the moment how one might start the
process of getting hay out, several
possibilities might be explored. A
portable moving belt conveyor on the
mow floor extending from the raow
opening to the side of the mow would
be pushed to the hay. The hay would
be raked down on to the three-foot
belt which would deliver it to the
opening. Another possibility con-
sidered was a portable moving con-
veyor or rake pivoted near the mow
opening and raking the hay from
the top downward. This portable
conveyor could be moved along the
barn as necessary.

The second type of structure (Fig.
64) designed for baled hay would be
a framework about eight feet high
and eight feet wide. The space un-
der this could be filled with baled
hay laid on two by fours over the
openings. The framework would
protect this area from the weight of
hay above. This arrangement would
make the hay in the protected area
available from the stable floor by one

means or another.

Baled hay would be piled on top
of the framework. This hay could
be brought down to the protected
area through trap doors and arranged
so that it would be available from
the stable floor. From time to time
the hay in other areas of the mow
could be moved to the protected area
and made available to the operator
from the stable floor. A portable
conveyor might save some labor in
moving baled hay from the side of the
mow to the center area. No attempt
is made here to describe in detail the
methods that an operator might use
in getting a feed of hay out of the
mow without leaving the feed alley.
The major advantage sought in ex-
ploring the possibilities of the con-
tinuous hay mow opening has been
that of making the use of available
labor more flexible. For instance, if
the operator can make arrangements
in one trip to the mow for a week's
supply at push button availability, he
has shifted this same labor require-
ment from the daily night and morn-
ing busy chore work periods to a
convenient slack period one day a
week. He can then do the essential
daily chores more quickly.

Manure Disposal

As indicated in this bulletin, on
farms with barn cleaner installations,
the dairymen have to haul out the
manure every day. They permit
themselves no alternative.

One alternative might be a large
carrier, without hoisting mechanism,
operating on a track with sufficient
pitch to take advantage of gravity in
moving full loads. This carrier
might hold about 1000 pounds, en-
abling the operator to move the day*s
supply of manure directly from the
elevator in four loads. The carrier
tub could have a self-dumping device.
The operator of a 40-cow farm will
usually have two manure spreader
loads a day. He has to stop the
cleaner while one load is spread. With
the suggested arrangement to be used
only occasionally in an emergency, he
would have to stop the cleaner three
times while he moved the carrier and
dumped the load. A moving conveyor
belt might be made to take the ma-
terial direct from the cleaner eleva-
tor, but this would have the disad-
vantage of freezing up in cold weath-
er. The belt arrangement would have
to be quite long because of health
regulations for some markets specify
considerable distance from the barn.

Portable Belt
Conveyor

4^/1

Frame C(/J

work rf^

+ _r^l,^ Hay

ffli

Portable Belt
Conveyor

Fig. 63. For chopped hay a framework about four feet high would protect
the opening from the weight of hay above and still leave unrestricted
space at the sides. Research and trial are suggested.

Hay in protected
area can be
tripped to feed
alley floor
as needed

Fig. 64. For baled hay a framework about seven feet high would protect the
opening from the weight of hay above and would give sufficient
height for a worker to operate unhampered. The hay in the pro-
tected area could be dropped or tripped through the opening by one
means or another by the operator on the stable place.

One man with a homemade belt type
cleaner ran the conveyor some dis-
tance from the barn and dumped over
a bank into a manure pit. In this
case there vi^as no provision for load-
ing the manure spreader directly ex-
cept when the pit was empty.

Silage Preparation

A simple method of getting out
several feeds with one trip to the
silo would be helpful. There are com-
plications due to need of keeping the
surface somewhat level but lower
around the edges. This is done to
prevent spoilage in warm weather
and to curtail freezing in sub-zero
weather.

A light portable belt conveyor piv-
oted at the silo door would lighten
the physical effort and save some
time, especially in a large silo. The
operator might be able to throw down
one feeding and put another feeding
on top of this belt in such a way that
it would move out the door when the
switch was turned. This might not
work in freezing weather.

Another idea suggested was a belt
type conveyor that would operate in
reverse, loosening the silage immedi-
ately underneath and dragging it to

the door. If this conveyor was piv-
oted at the silo floor it could be moved
in a limited way to take considerable
silage. Once every two or three days
the operator would have to level off
the silage. Some arrangement might
be found so that one trip to the silo
would prepare for two or more feed-
ings. These trips to the silo could
be made in a slack period.

Straining Milk in the Barn

In most lai"ge dairy barns, the milk
house is at a considerable distance
from some of the cows. Even with
an ideal location of the milk house,
considerable travel and time are re-
quired to carry milk in pails from
the more distant areas of the stable.
It is very difficult for the operator,
under these circumstances, to take
full advantage of rapid milking tech-
niques. He can't get back to the
cows to machine strip at the proper
time. For instance, one operator
milking 46 cows alone used three
single units. He was able to carry
the milk when operating on the near
side of the barn but had to have a
man carry milk when he operated on
the far side. While this second per-
son was not busy all the time, the

task of carrying milk accounted for
about 30 minutes each milking or
about one hour a day.

Obsei'vations in a few cases where
the operators strained milk in the
stable indicated an advantage in ease
and time of milking. The operator
could dispose of milk in 0.2 of a min-
ute instead of 1.0 minute and get
back to the cows quickly. But the
health regulations of most markets
prohibit the straining of milk in the
stable. The objective of the regula-
tion is to hold the absorbtion of stable
air and odors by the milk to a mini-
mum. If the shipping cans are ster-
ile and tightly covered when leaving
the milk house and if the strainers
are covered, the milk would have a
minimum contact with stable air and
would be protected from dust and
flies. The relaxation of the regula-
tion to those who carried out special
practices would save time and travel.

A simple device to indicate when
the shipping cans are full would
make it unnecessary to lift the strain-
er until ready to put the can cover
on. In fact, a means of indicating
by weight would enable the operator
to know when he had enough milk in
the strainer to fill the can. If the

shipping can filled with milk plus the
strainer weighs 100 pounds, the work-
er could pour into the strainer until
the 100 pounds were registered. A
simple device could be made to indi-
cate a definite weight.

The shipping cans filled with milk
can be transported to the milk room
by a special two-wheeled hand ti-uck.
Either one or two cans could be trans-
ported in one trip.

On large farms in California, sani-
tary steel vacuum pipes are installed
on each row of 28 stanchions in the
milking shed and they convey the milk
direct from teat cups to the milk room.
With the use of hot water and special
detergents the equipment is kept sani-
tary without dismantling. Due to the
expense of installation and mainte-
nance this equipment probably is not
practical in a conventional type dairy
barn. On the other hand engineers
can make a real contribution to the
dairy industry by developing a prac-
tical way of conveying milk from the
cows to the milk house. Perhaps some
of the special equipment now in use in
milking parlors and western milking
sheds can be redesigned for use in
stanchion barns.

Summary

1. Greater chore efficiency is
needed on specialized dairy farms to
balance the improved technology of
field work.

2. Adjustments that enable the
operator to prepare certain chore
tasks in advance of the usual period
give flexibility to labor requirements
and can result in greater efficiency
of labor.

3. Each task performed should be
reexamined and reappraised as to its
need and how best to do it.

4. The grouping of chore activi-
ties around work centers and arrange-

ments to do individual chores by cir-
cular travel simplifies the total work
load.

5. Milking takes more than one-
half the total chore man hours on
most farms and must be done at defi-
nite periods twice daily. Concentra-
tion of the operator on improved
methods can eventually reduce this
chore to less than six man minutes
daily per cow milked.

6. High efficiency in feeding re-
quires a good layout so that feed can
be moved from storage easily and
quickly. Greater use of mechanical

means and gravity can reduce time
in feeding. Total feeding in winter
months, including preparation, can be
reduced to one and one-half man
minutes per cow on most farms and
to one man minutes on a few farms.

7. The labor of cleaning and sani-
tation can be reduced on most farms
by using proper tools and doing this
job less frequently. Cleaning can be
reduced to one and one-half man min-
utes per cow on most farms. With
barn cleaners it can be reduced to
one-half man minutes on a few barns.

8. Proper storage facilities repre-
sent the key to efficient bedding prac-
tices.

9. Since the two miscellaneous
tasks, currying and turning out cows,
can be done at slack periods in the
middle of the day, there is consider-
able flexibility in the use of labor.

10. The individual chores can be
fitted into a pattern so that each
worker has a definite schedule. This
avoids confusion and reduces travel
and time. This is especially impor-
tant in large barns where several
men are working.

11. In fall and spring much of the
feeding of roughage can be done out-
side. Hay can be fed in self-feeders
and silage can be fed in bunks with
low labor cost.

12. In remodeling barns or build-
ing new ones, an operator can afford

to give intensive consideration to his
future program. A good layout can
mean a large saving in labor each
year.

13. Young calves need special at-
tention. However, in feeding them,
advantage can be taken of special
practices to reduce man minutes.

14. Young stock over six months
can be housed loose in pens in a sep-
arate building from the cows. Ad-
vantage can be taken of labor sav-
ing practices such as hay self-feeders.
If housed in stanchions in the same
barn with the cows, there is less flex-
ibility in the use of labor.

15. Few operators are in a posi-
tion to adopt all the potential efficient
practices immediately. It is impor-
tant, however, that individual dairy-
men initiate a program of acquiring
the ideas, "know how," and skills es-
sential to such a program and con-
tinually study the possibility of mak-
ing adjustments and improvements.

16. The financial benefits from
greater efficiency in chore work will
depend on how well the operator re-
organizes his entire operations. More
efficient chore work provides an op-
portunity for the farmer to do more
field work or take care of more cows
with the same man power. It is an
aid in increasing output without hir-
ing additional labor.

«if

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