J76 



ROYAL COMMISSION ON AORICULTOIUC. 



20 Auyu$t, 1919.] 



MR. R. STBATTOS. 



t at i 'i : i< li . 



4664. Tho coat of growing ont* and barley would _ 

 mau-riully differ?^ It would DO in proportion to wheat 

 and barley, but we cannot get mi with growing oats 

 now. 



4555. These figures are practically all estimates; 

 tin v are nut taken from co-tings!' 1 \~.f\ :ii<> not 

 taken from my own books, hut they are figures which 1 

 think are typical of Wiltshire farms. 



4556. You charge the same price for the second 

 ploughing as you do for the first ploughing. Would 

 that be -quite the custom? I think so. 



l.V.7. According to you, the average cost of groxv- 

 ing swedes would bo about 13 nn acre; turnips a 

 shado under 110 an acre; and wheat 10 an acre? 

 You have to put on to the cost of the wheat the-e 

 other costs because the sheep have paid nothing for 

 eating the swedes and the turnips. 



4558. You have to allow half the tillage? No, the 

 whole. 



4559. In any valuation you would be allowed half, 

 because it is presumed that half goes into the land 

 and half into the sheep's bellies? We have tried very 

 hard to get the whole tillage, and we think it just 

 that we should, because the Sheep pay nothing. 



4500. Do you think the valuers would agree to 

 debit the corn crop with the whole of the cost of 

 the preceding green crop? I think {hey should agree. 



t-Vil. Have you discussed the matter with your 

 local valuer, Mr. George Ferris, at Mil?- I read a 

 paper on sheep management. at the South Wiltshire 

 Chamber some time ago, and he wrote to me with 

 regard to it, and a-sked my opinions, and said he 

 would put them before the" local surveyors, or the 

 Surveyors' Institute. 



4562. It practically comes to this, that the cost of 

 ' working this one acre for 8 years, according to 



you. amounts to 80, in round figures, and you say 

 the produce of that land in corn for the 8 years 

 would be 15J quarters? Yes. 



4563. Is that based on four quarters c.f wheat MII ' 

 four quarters of barley? It is just a trifle under; 

 we do not think it would average four quarters. 



4564. Putting that return of corn a being in 

 round figures worth 50, you have only got the v; 1m 

 of the hay crop, which would be liberal at 7 10s. ? 

 The sheep have eaten the hay crop ami paid not hi n;.' 

 for it. You will see that in my estimate with regard 

 to the sheep. 



4565. Tn an ordinary case I suppose there would be 

 some upland where hay is grown. Suppose you hav<> 

 put your land for a season down to clover mixed 

 seeds, as we call it you would not feed the whole of 

 that every year; you would feed the first crop? We 

 should make hay of it, but in the winter the sheep 

 have eaten that and paid nothing for it. If you look 

 at my sheep estimate you will see the 1,405 is the cost 

 of the sheep, allowing nothing for hay, straw, roots. 

 or management. The value of the 80 tons of hay which 

 they require, at 12 a ton, is 960, and they have 

 e-iten that hay and paid nothing for it. 



4566. To arrive at the cost of production of wheat, 

 barley, or oats, we shall have to make some allowance 

 for the value of the hay crop, whether it is eaten cr 

 whether it is sold. You have not adopted any system 

 of routings as the basis of your m-ci u?iN. You have 

 taken the cost at the cost a valuer would allow? Yes. 



4567. That is how you have arrived at your figures? 

 Yes. I hope you are quite clear about the sheep. 

 As you know, on one of these hill farms with a flock 

 of 400 ewes, which should be kept, there would he 200 

 acres of roots and grass and hay grown for them. 

 There would be only 50 acres of what we call new field. 

 which would produce 60 to 70 tons of hay. You know 

 quite well that 400 ewes will eat that hay in the 

 winter. There is an enormous loss on our sheep, and 

 unless we get a guaranteed price for the sheep we must 



get it for the rum. 



4568. It would be very much more difficult to get a 

 guaranteed price for sheep than it would he for 



'Is. and what I want to get from you is that in 

 estimating the cost of the production of cereals we 

 must in this case, on your evidence, make an allowance 

 for what the sheep keep is worth in order to manure 

 the land to produce the wheat crop. That is so. is it 



not? Wo have seen what the sheep do cost, and they 



'do not pay anything, ami then-ton- we cai t allow 



.m> thing. If they did not have the SO tons of hay we 

 could not keep the she. p. 



miring is u debit to the cereals?- V 

 You could not grow the corn unless the sheep 

 nere there? No. 



4.171. Kvery cost, therefore, of feeding the sheep on 

 the land is a debit to the cereal crop?- ^ 



I."i72. In that way you increase the cost which you 

 give here of getting your wheat in the third year. 

 You would have to add to that some portion, at any 

 rate, of the cost of the preceding two green crops? 

 Certainly in my opinion, the whole. 



!"),;). If you add the whole you would arrive at an 

 impossible figure, because you would moke the cost of 

 production of wheat :W an acre? Not the whole to 

 the wheat; part of it would be carried on to the 

 barley. 



1 .7 I. ^ os. a bit of it? The way to get at the cost of 

 the quarter of corn is to divide 151 quarters into the 

 80, and 1 should like the price of lamb put up a 

 shilling a pound, which would reduce that t" L'i'.l. I 

 think a pound of lamb ought to be worth as much 

 pound of bacon. 



. Dealing with your figures relating to the co-t 

 of producing beef, what do you estimate the original 

 cost of the two-year-old steer, to start with? I 

 should put it at 7 cwts. 



4576. What would you give for it as a store sav 



ant im. 



4577. According to you, you would have to produce 

 a beast that is worth when it is sold for slaughter 

 !'(>:) 10s. in order to get your money back, let alone 

 any profit? Yes. 



4578. What would be the average price a beast 

 going off your farm would make, according to to-day's 

 pi-ice-!' That would be about 12 cwU. 



4579. That would bo worth to-day 148. Thp prices 

 are, roughly, 80s. a cwt. within a shilling? Yes. 



4580. So that, according to * uoiild IOM 



on every bullock you produce? That, you see, is 

 taking to-day's prices ; we are asked for the prices at a 

 certain time. 



4581. You put your cake at 22, whereas to-day's 

 price is 26? That i, linseed. 



4582. You would use linseed, would you not, for 

 feeding cattle;' Half linseed and half co'.ton. 



4583. Cotton is 20?- 'i 



4584. You have averaged it at 22. but even on your 

 figures yi. u would lose 15 on every beast you produce. 

 Do you think that is your position? I think it will he 

 next February. It has not been the ease so far, 

 because the wages have not been up at this figure long 

 enough to influence it, and the cake has not l>cen up 

 to its present pri' a. It was til hist spring, and 1 have 

 not allowed for any cake all the summer, but it will 

 affect me in the winter. There are the wagis, the 



. ami the straw, and attending. 



4585. Turning to your she. p account, if you add the 

 value of the 90 tons of hay, putting it at 6 a ton. 

 which is the cost of production, you bring your ex- 

 penses up to 1,900, as against your income of l.:i- ' 

 or, in round figures, 1,400? Yes. 



4686. So that, according to that, you would l<se 

 500 on 400 sheep? You cannot quarrel with those 

 figures. 



4587. You can make figures prove anything almost. 

 but yen have t<> get at what is the rock-bottom result. 

 Do you honestly think that you are losing on your 

 flock of 4<K) ,.,'.. C'XXI | Din-ctly, I am. '.it 



tainly. I have to put that against the corn, and that 

 increases the cost of the corn. 



45*<8. According to your corn account, you are not 

 making more than 12 profit, if you reckon the 

 your grc-i-n crop*. Without debiting your iurn crop 

 with even one half which. I maintain, y ni would be 

 entitled to do of your green crops, you <>n!v get a 

 balance, taking the eight years, of just over 2? We 

 do not know what the price of barley is to IN 

 that may be our salvation. 



ll-ive you turned over in your mind at all 

 about what kind of figure, taking wheat, the guarantee 

 should be, putting it at the lowest possible figure n 





