DAIRY MEETING. 175 



LABOR. 



From a number of inquiries it was found that the average 

 wage paid hired men on dairy farms varied from $20 to $30 

 a month with board and room, and from $40 to $55 without. 

 Nearlv every New Hampshire farmer whether in the business 

 on a small or a large scale takes an active part in the dairy 

 work and since no charge is made for manager's services one 

 dollar and fifty cents per day is a moderate wage. 



On a number of specialized dairy farms where the men 

 taking care of the cattle are not required to do other work each 

 man takes care of 15 cows. The cost of labor under those con- 

 ditions would be $36.00 per cow per year. 



Milking. 



Wages per day $1 50 



Wages per hour 15 



Average No. of cows i man can milk 



per hour 7 



Cost of milking I cow 02i 



Cost per day of milking one cow 042 



300 days at .042 $12 60 



At first thought seven cows per hour looks like a small num- 

 ber and no doubt there are farmers who average more. On 

 farms where poor cows are kept and where no preparations 

 are made before milking, and where no records are kept, and 

 the milker empties the milk pail only for every three cows 

 milked, the number sometimes reaches nine or ten. However, 

 these figures are based upon weighing and recording each cow's 

 milk, and considering also the many factors such as unusually 

 hard milkers, inflamed udder, teat troubles, and flies in the sum- 

 mer time, which all tend to decrease the average. On many 

 farms the average is only six cows per hour, which will increase 

 the cost of milking from $12.60 to $15.00 per cow per year. 



Handling milk and cleaning Utensils. The handing of the 

 milk, the icing, including the removal of ice from the ice house, 

 and the cleaning of the utensils twice a day will take on the 

 average one hour per day. 



365 days at $.15, per cow %^ 72) 



