342 



ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



The foregoing is a complete business statement except 

 the opening and closing inventory. These were left out to 

 simplify the account. To put them in, one would simply 

 put in the debit column the value of the cow at the begin- 

 ning of the year and in the credit column her value at the 

 close of the year. 



Interest on Investment. — To get this item we simply 

 assumed the cow to be worth $40.00 and figured 6% on 

 this amount. 



Feed. — The cow was fed in the stall for seven months, 

 during which time she ate 301 lbs. of farm grain and 442 

 lbs. of mill feed, worth $10.46, and 1,496 lbs. of hay and 

 3,330 lbs. of fodder, worth $12.29. She was pastured for 

 five months and was charged for this at the rate of $1.00 

 per month, which is the ordinary charge for pasturing. 



Labor. — The labor includes all 

 time spent in milking and caring 

 for the cow and in marketing the 

 product. As the milk was shipped, 

 it had to be delivered to the sta- 

 tion every day, which work re- 

 quired considerable time for both 

 man and team, all of which must 

 be accounted for. 



Miscellaneous Expenses. — The 

 item for miscellaneous expense is 

 the actual wear and tear on dairy 

 equipment, cost of medicine, etc. 

 Profit. — The net profit appears 

 very low; but in reality it is not 

 bad at all, since every bit of work 

 done and feed fed was paid for in 

 full and a fair rate of interest has 

 been paid on money invested in 

 the cow and in the buildings. 

 There is an additional profit 

 to the farm by keeping live stock, as most of the fertilizing 

 value of feeds fed is retained on the farm in the form of 

 manure. The manure produced by a cow in one year is 

 worth several dollars to the farm. 



Figure 151. — Weighing feed. 



