goats and cows - trying to figure cost...

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

I worked at two dairies where the cows did not get grain while they were being milked. These dairies had the most well-behaved cows I've ever milked, bar none. Sure you still had the ocaisional brat causing trouble.
But with no incentive to push or shove for more feed, no running out of feed before they were finished milking, the cows just stood and chewed cud until they were let out. They got fed in bunks after milking and they knew they had to stand to be milked before they could leave the barn to eat. Less mess in the barn too(no feed going in one end, much less manure coming out the other), less spilled grain, and less rodent problems with no grain in the attic.
We are still slowly changing things around here, but that is one change I intend to make sooner or later. One of these days, I will have a set-up so I do not need to feed in the dairy barn.