Whether putting food in the refrigerator, the freezer, or the cupboard, you have plenty of opportunities to prevent foodborne illnesses. One of the basics of food safety is cooking food to its proper temperature.
Re: Average hay consumption. A cow needs about 3 per cert of its body weight in roughage a day, a 1000 lb cow needs 30 lbs of hay if it has no other source of roughage.
Feed costs for heifers vary with age but we will use $2 per head per day to feed on the average for all the young stock. This gives us a total cost per day for feed for all of our animals of $800 per day. If the cows are milking an average of 80 pounds per day, they are producing 6400 pounds of milk per day or 64 cwt. This gives a feed cost of $12.50 per cwt of milk produced. If your margin is milk price minus feed cost, what does that leave you for a margin to pay your other expenses? Most producers are somewhat surprised at how high the feed cost is when dry cows and heifers are included.