DB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 16,1980
SOME EASY TO USE
“THUMB of RULE” IDEAS
When you have to make a
decision rather quickly, and
don’t need to be too con
cerned about pin-point ac
curacy, thumb rules can be
very useful Since most
people have a whole pocket
full of these rules, I thought
you might like to add a few
that are not so commonly
known
Be aware, however, that a
rule of thumb will only get
you m the ballpark it may
not win a close game But
you can’t lose by much
either!
PASTURE RENT - What
can you pay 7 Actually, there
are as many ideas on this as
pastures to rent But some
economists at PURDUE
University have pinpointed
some unique relationships
between pasture rental rates
and the prices of other
commodities.
1 Rental per cow per
month 22 times the price
of corn Example Corn at
$2.90 x 22 = $6 38 per cow
per month
2 Rental per cow per
month = price cf hay per ton
dividedlyB 5 Example Hay
at $54 a ton - 8 5 = $6 35 per
cow per month
3 Rent per cow per month
= price of fat cattle divided
by 11. Example Cattle at $7O
11 = $6 36 per cow per
month.
So, even though they use a
different commodity as a
guide, they all come out
fairly close to the same
answer
Since cows differ widely in
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By
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age and weight, calculate
the number of head by
animal units One animal
unit is the equivalent of an
1100 pound cow A yearling
steer is therefore equivalent
to 75, or %t of one unit
Calves between 6 and 12
months are worth 5 units,
and 3 to 6 month old about 3
units Simply multiply the
animal unit coefficient by
the agreed rental rate, times
the number of animals to
establish the total rent per
month for the pasture Of
course, rental agreements
are always complicated by
many other variables, in
cluding fences, water,
fertility, and forage species
At any rate, make sure that
there is a written agreement
and that both owner and
renter understand and agree
on the terms
HOW MUCH IS SILAGE
WORTH
(Purchased from storage) 7
This question is timely,
because silage is frequently
a cash commodity when a
herd is dispersed or farms
are rented The value of
silage on a per ton basis is
fairly easy to calculate if you
have a forage analysis
Penn State forage analysis
provides a “Hay
Equivalent” (HE) factor
The HE factor is simply the
number of pounds of silage
that are needed to replace
one pound of hay of similar
quality Wilted grain silage
at 70% moisture has an HE
of 3 0 Good corn silage also
has an HE of 30, on the
average
For either grains or corn
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16
N.
SOM 44
silage, the better the quality
and the lower the moisture,
the lower will be the HE
factor Simply divide the
current price of a ton of hay
by the Hay Equivalent factor
of the silage in question, and
you have the value of a ton of
silage For example,
haylage at 50%-moisture has
a HE of 1 8
If hay is worth $54 a ton,
divide by 1 8 and get $3O 00
as the value of the haylage
Consult a silo capacity chart
to estimate the tons of silage
in any given size silo
PROTEIN BALANCER
Now, if I haven’t already
lost you, lets tackle one more
formula It’s called the
“Pearson Square”, and is
used to balance a feed for
mula for protein What are
the proper proportions of
grain and protein con
centrate mix to give a 16
percent ration’
1 Draw a square and write
the desired protein percent
in the middle
2 At the upper left corner,
write the percent protein in
your available grain fEar
corn is about 8 percent)
3 At the lower left, write
the percent protein of the
protein supplement
(Soybean oil meal is about 44
percent)
4 Subtract across the
diagonal and write the
figures at the opposite
corner At the upper right
you will have the proportion
of corn to be mixed with the
proportion of soybean meal
that appears at the bottom
right corner When mixed in
the proportion of 28 8, the
protein will average out to 16
percent
ZIP
STATE
28 Parts
Corn
8 Parts
SOM
Again, we have probably
over simplified a rather
complex problem A modern
grain ration for dairy cows
can’t be formulated that
easily We haven’t
calculated all the other
necessary goodies like
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minerals; ' vitamins, net
energy etc etc But we can
use it as another quick and
easy “Rule of Thumb”
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Do you have other favorite
thumb rules or easy to use
formulas’ me know
what they are, and I’ll share
them in a future column *
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