54^ Bulletin 169. 



Cost of Milk Production. 



During the year beginning January 15, 1892, and ending 

 January 14, 1893, an accurate record was kept of the amount of 

 food consumed by each cow as well as the amount of milk pro- 

 duced. From this record there was calculated the cost of pro- 

 ducing milk and butter fat by each individual cow and the aver- 

 age cost for the herd. Owing to the fluctuation in price of feeds 

 the cost of production then and now would differ even though 

 conditions were otherwise the same. However, this variation 

 in cost would occur between shorter periods owing to the same 

 cause, and thus it does not seem out of place to publish in these 

 pages the results of the experiment of 1892. Another reason 

 for presenting them here is that the Bulletin in which they 

 were originally published (No. 52) is out of print and so not 

 accessible to the public. Accordingly we reprint here the more 

 salient points and observations contained in that Bulletin. 



In conducting this experiment it w^as the aim to feed a ration 

 that would be eaten up fairly clean by all the cows. The foods 

 used during the winter were haj^ silage, roots, wheat bran, 

 cotton-seed meal and corn meal. Only ver}^ slight variations 

 were made from this list of foods. In the summer the cows had 

 pasture of good qualit}^ and a grain ration, for the most of the 

 time, of wheat bran and cotton-seed meal, supplemented with 

 soiling crops when the pastures became dry. 



The hay used was clover hay of a fair quality grown upon a 

 w^heat stubble and having a considerable proportion of volunteer 

 wheat mixed with it, which was not readil}^ eaten by the cows. 

 The silage was made from Pride of the North corn grown in hills 

 carrying a fair crop of ears. It was well preserved and of good 

 quality. The roots used were almost wholly mangel wurtzels of 

 medium size and good quality. The grain ration in January, 

 February, March and April, 1892, w^as made up of a mixture of 

 300 pounds of bran, 200 pounds of cotton-seed meal and 60 

 pounds of corn meal. The corn silage crop of 1892 had consider- 

 ably more grain than that of 1891, consequently^ in November 

 and December, 1892, and the first half of January, 1893, the corn 

 meal was left out of the grain ration and three parts of bran and 



