INSTITUTE PAPERS. 



COST OF MILK AND BUTTER PRODUCTION AND 

 THE MARKETING OF THESE PRODUCTS. 



By Prop. J. W. Sanborn, Gilmanton, N. H. 

 The subject assigned me by your worthy Commissioner is of 

 more importance than appears on the face of it. Not until we 

 know clearly the real cost of our products can we hx with in- 

 telligence the price that we ^^hould receive. The problem of 

 cost of milk is made more complex and therefore its cost made 

 more vague than is necessary. Into the problem is woven the 

 cost of crop production and of raising the cow and other costs 

 that should be dissevered from it. The primary business of farm- 

 ing is that of crop production, and the profits of the business 

 should be measured by crops. The cow is a sort of collateral 

 business. She exists on the farm for the purpose of marketing 

 crops in more concentrated form and for the production of 

 plant food. She is a home market for the direct sales of farm 

 crops. The cow as a market for crops should never be used 

 when a better market is at command. It will be seen that I 

 expect the cow to pay full market price for all the food con- 

 sumed. All her products should be credited to her ^account at 

 their full value. This will include of course the manure and 

 calves produced. There are those who reason that the cow 

 must be kept in order to produce plant food for the preserva- 

 tion of farm fertility, whether she pays for the foods and care 

 given or not. This position is unsound. It is based upon the 

 proposition that the milk producer must sell to the cow food at 

 less than the world sells it in open market and finds that essen- 

 tial to the success of agriculture. If it is replied that there is 

 no better animal source of plant food and that fertility cannot 



