A2>—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 2,1980 How SHOEMAKERSVILLE - There is little that dairymen can do to control the price of the purchased feed and concentrates. At best, they can shop for the best prices and grow higher quality hay to minimize the need to buy soybean meal. Where the dairyman has a real chance to reduce those feed costs is in the crops grown on his own farm. The bottom line is what it costs to produce a ton of hay or corn silage. Factors affecting this bottom line are labor and machinery costs, land and interest, plus seed and chemicals. On the other hand the yields play a vital role since yields dictate the cost per ton of feed produced. Higher yields spread out the cost of production. Two dairymen who have learned how to reduce costs and increase yields are Bill Adams of Shoemakersville and Ray Walton of Lmwood, NY. The Walton’s farm con sists of 500 acres 400 of which are tillable. The crops grown are 200 acres of alfalfa and 200 acres of corn, 50 of the 200 acres are made into silage. There are two major factors which are helping the Waltons keep feed costs down. One is that they have been able to eliminate the cost of side dressing their com with fertilizer and to grow high protein alfalfa. “One of the biggest problems with trying to side dress corn is you either have to forego cutting the alfalfa at the right time and lose a lot of the protein content or you side dress the com after the first cutting and that ends up pruning the com roots “This sets the com back a good 2 weeks The practice also means another trip in the field and further soil compaction” explained Ray Ray prefers to cut his alfalfa in the bud stage when protein content is at its highest He cuts it, windrows it and wilts it down to bet ween 40 percent and 45 percent moisture before its stored m his Harvestore. This past year’s tests showed Walton’s alfalfa haylage was 23 percent protein on a dry basis. They have been able to cut their outside protein costs by $13,000 this past year because of the high quality haylage The average dairyman in western New York spends 25 percent of his milk check for outside feed costs including protein supplements and minerals The Waltons spent a modest nine percent of their milk check for outside feed costs We Specialize In Aerial Wort LKmff Our Twin Bucket Rnom Truck / ELECTRICAL \ / CONTRACTING \ 55 Fl ( Specializing In \ \ J AGRICULTURAL -TggT* J WIRING / Also Residential, Industrial J £\. And Commercial Work / Free Estimates / Wt Ka