EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 

 TABLE II.— AVERAGE YEARLY FOOD REQUIREMENT FOR ONE COW. 



425 



In the judgment of the investigators the cattle were well fed and as 

 economically fed as local conditions would permit. In a few instances 

 more bedding could have been used. 



In studying the expenditures one is not so interested in the total ex- 

 penses of the several farms, as he is in those comparative figures which 

 enable him to grasp the data and understand their significance with 

 ease. 



The data might be so arranged as to compare the several farms or their 

 herd production by using the expenses incurred by producing a gallon of 

 milk as the basis or unit for comparison. Such a basis would suffer 

 from the criticism of being too small and would likewise be an unfamiliar 

 one. A more convenient unit of comparison, and a much more familiar 

 one, is a cow. 



In Table III there will be found the average yearly expenditures per 

 cow for the year 1914, and also the same average expenditures for 1915. 



Table III shows that the total expenses per cow in the year 1914 w^ere 

 1150.57, and in the year 1915, $150.29. If one examines the table still 

 further it will be noted that the average cost of man labor for one cow 

 was a little less than |30.00 per year, and that milk hauling and other 

 horse labor cost about |15.00 per year, — a total of $45.00 for the entire 

 labor item. It further shows that this average cow consumed feeds to 

 the value of about |65.00. All the other expenditures which are fre- 

 quently classed as over-head charges, amounted approximately to |40.00. 



If we express these three classes of expense in terms of per cent, in 

 round numbers they will show the following proportions : 



Labor 30% 



Feed 45% 



Over-head charges 25% 



A comparative study of the two years' expenses, item by item, reveals 

 the fact that the losses from tuberculosis and other death are the least 

 constant of any of the items. The explanation of this variation is that 

 nineteen head of cattle were condemned for tuberculosis during 1914 and 

 seventy-five head during 1915. 



