Vermont Dairymen's Association. 131 



scrutiny and modification are needed since the general statement 

 of farmers are apt to be so far from accurate as to be of doubtful 

 value. This procedure affords results which, while far from 

 accurate, possess at least considerable comparative value. 



A cow census does not pretend to tell the whole story. It 

 does not consider several items on each side of the account. It 

 deals with food and the main sales product only. The original 

 cost of the plant, of the cows, interest, depreciation and taxes, 

 care of the animals, cost of manufacturing the products, etc., on 

 the one side increase the cost of producing a quart of milk and a 

 pound of butter. The skimmilk, calves, sale of fat or old cows, 

 the manure, as well as the relation of the dairy to the food supply 

 of the farm household are important items on the credit side of 

 the account. The relationship of the one to the other is bound 

 to be a variable one. It is assumed for working purposes, how- 

 ever, that these may be offset one against the other. Such an 

 assumption, which is not without warrant, simplifies the situation 

 and enables a clear cut comparison of outgo and income, 



the; essentiai. results. 



Mr. Lyon's investigations covered lOO herds, varying in size 

 from five to seventy and averaging nineteen cows, just such as 

 may be found all over the better dairy sections of the State. In- 

 deed there is reason to believe that on the whole they were, if 

 anything, a bit better than the average Vermont dairy herds in 

 milk and butter yields and, perhaps, in care and feeding. Thirty- 

 eight contained a sufficient sprinkling of Jersey blood to warrant 

 the use of the term "grade Jerseys"; Ayrshire, Holstein and 

 Guernsey bloods were dominant in ten herds ; the remainder 

 were mixed lots of grades or so-called natives. The estimated 

 cost for food ranged from $32.90 to $41.00 per cow, averaging 

 $36.50. These estimates were based on the average cost prices 

 for grain feeds and on arbitrary prices applied to hay, silage, 

 corn fodder, etc. Hay was rated at sales price, $12 a ton; silage 

 at $3 a ton : pasturage at $5 per cow. The average income per 

 cow varied in the several herds from $15.82 to $63.57, and aver- 

 aged about $34, being in each case the actual cash receipts 

 from the creamery. The butter yield per cow ranged from 84 

 to 315 pounds and averaged 175 pounds, and the price received 

 for butter fat from 19.7 cents to 27.2 cents, averaging 22.7 cents. 

 The creamery money returns for a dollar spent for feed, includ- 

 ing both purchased and home grown materials, varied from 42 

 cents to $1.57 and averaged 93 cents. The profit and loss account 

 for the several herds varied all the way from a gain of $22.57 to 

 a loss of $21.68 per cow and averaged a loss of $2.50. In other 



