COST OF rRODUCTIOX OF MAIZE. 203 



The fig'iires refer to maize g-rowinp;, and incidentally to 

 the cost of ox labour. The lattei- point may conveniently be 

 taken first. 



Oxen c-an be used for sonie years, and then fattened up 

 for the market and sold, often at a hig-her price than they cost 

 in the first place. This is ai)t to make tlie farmer think that 

 ox labour costs nothing, or next to nothing". A more detailed 

 examination does not confirm the view, however. There are, 

 of course, profits to be made from breeding stock, but to answer 

 the immediate question Ave must consider trek oxen apart from 

 other cattle. 



It is true that depreciation is trifiing. If, for example, a 

 four-year-old animal costs £12, and can be used for, say, five 

 years, then fattened up and sold at £15, we need to know the 

 losses to allow for meanwhile. A good farmer of my acquaint- 

 ance puts the loss at one animal in eight; if, however, one 

 allows for the inferior conditions prevailing* on many farms, 

 and the possibility — even though remote — of cattle plagues, 

 the loss is probably higlier. If it be one in five, the value 

 of the four remaining cattle just equals that of the five when 

 bought, and the depreciation is nil. 



An ox will require for pasture perhaj^s two morgen of 

 good ground, worth £8 per morgen, to four morgen of poor 

 land, worth £4 per morgen, or £16 worth of ground in either 

 case, and eA^en then will probably cost something for winter 

 feed besides. There is also capital expenditure for dip, water 

 supply and fencing, which we will put at £100 for a herd 

 of forty. Thus we have: — 



Capital Cost: Ox £12 



Land ... 16 



Dip, etc. ... 4 



32 at 7 per cent, interest = £2.24 



Depreciation on Dip, etc., say, 5 per cent, on £4 ... = 0.20 



Further, the annual expenses : — 



One Herd Boy (£30 a year) for 40 Cattle = 0.75 



Winter Feed, groAvn or purchased, say ... ... = 0.25 



Dipping and other Expenses ... ... ... = .0.05 



£3.49 



or £3 10s. per ox per year. 



It requires pretty good management to (>;et 140 days' 

 actual work per beast, especially remembering the proportion 

 of older ones that liaA'e to be fattened up for the market. 

 Taking that figure, the cost comes to about sixpence per 

 working day. 



The foregoing figures are not taken precisely from any 

 one farm, but are rather of the nature of guesses based upon 

 experience; in the second example — on maize growing — the 

 figures are the actual averages for four farms in the (Grange 

 Free State and Transvaal for the season 1910-17. 



