I! 



ROYAL COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURE. 



15 Oriobrr, 1919.] 



AM.IBM.V .Isi; . M 1U\ lUSON, MeLAKKN. 



[dmt 



tell )ull IHI c\,-i\ iiulnnln.il l.un.ci olnnultsl it. 

 Thi> Committee in instructing t!it>tn how to e.s; 

 tin- homo labour told them that they .-i.- to t..i 

 U'lnl wages of tin- men einp!.>\e<l ni the stable. That 

 was nothing ill Scotland we found, then- u.n- n. 

 men employed solely on stable woik. Thru they were 

 told to take the cost <>i -h<-iiig. harm*.*. upkeep ami 

 tem>walft and any small implement*, veterinary 

 Attendance. :inil Otter, and thru tin- t.it;il cost of 

 feeding stuffs. us near as they could get at the 

 - I production of <>ats, hay. chop|x-<l hay and 

 turnip* as tho case may bo 'and apply to that a 

 proportion of their on-ooste, that is a certain 

 amount of rent, taxes, insurance, and the dcp 

 turn on horses Tin \ were to deduct trom the 

 total estimated value of the manure and from the 

 total cost applied over the total number of homes. 

 taking the actual number of working ilay-. they 

 arrive! at tin- cost nl a II.H-C per day which works 

 out at On. lid. to 10s. a duy. In some cases it is 

 higher and in Mime lower, but that is about the 

 average. In working out the labour cost if they had 

 a ploughman working for n whole day they took 

 the timo of the man ploughing anil tho value of the 

 horse labour. 



14.694. The general principle of valuing the food in 

 estimating the cost of horse labour is cost or as near 

 as you could get to cost; 1 That is so. 



14.695. What was the principle of valuing the 

 horses at cost or at market valuer The valuation 

 of the horses did not come into this except so far 

 as depreciation was concerned. The oast was the 



14,696. As near us you could get to it cost wa.s the 

 basis on which you took your amounts for depre- 

 ciation:' Yes, that was tho basis. 



H.GJ>7. Do you know generally what rate of 

 depreciation was taken? No, I cannot tell that, but 

 as you see in the other statement I produced I took 

 the depreciation at 15 per cent. I have discussed 

 this matter very fully with farmers and 15 per cent. 

 is the figure that is pretty generally agreed, but of 

 course, methods and ideas differ in that respect. 



14,(59S. What does tin- on-cost include generally? 

 As shown in tho tables the on-cost covers those items 

 of expenditure which cannot be applied to a particular 

 crop. 1 have used the term on-cost as it is used in 

 ii commercial sense applying this item to all the 

 crops and one has therefore to take the proportion 

 applying to a particular crop. 



14.699. What do you mean by management, for 

 example!' Tin- actual money paid for managing the 

 farm. That is n payment to a head foreman or some- 

 thing like that. 



14.700. Not an estimated salary? No, there is no 

 estimated salary; you cannot put that in. 



14.701. It does not include interest either? No, it 

 does not include interest; that is impossible. 



14, 702. Would you look at your summary of 

 on page 3P No. 11 is fat cattle? Yes. 



II.7IW. Doe, this summary apply to the finishing 

 period only or to the whole life of the beast? It 

 to the finishing period. Are you referring to the 

 n-t*.? 



14.701. V. 's. Thai is the total weight of the beast? 

 Yes, that is the weight of tho beast when it is sold. 



ll,7o... Tho highest cost there, '!. mid tho low<*t, 

 i.C. is the total cost of the life of tho beast?- > 



1 1,700. You have not stated the actual cn.t t... 

 tmi-hing and tin- actual weight added during the 

 finishing period? You have it if you take the price 

 of the store animal which is worked out on a weight 

 running from 8 to 8J cwts., and if MHI take the imi-h 

 ing weight it runs from 10J to 12 in one case. 

 have the variation in the weight* there and you .n, 

 got at the amount added during the finishing period. 



1 1,707. Take the next one, No. 12, tho cost of the 

 calf ? -Are you on store animals? 



1 1.708. No, it is called " fat cattle," but I think n 

 hould He r- Yen, it should be store. The highest 

 total cost of tho animal in No. 12 is C.Ta 9s. 3d. 



14.709. t .1111 reading Irom page 1 ol \<>ur /<. 



1 beg your pardon, 1 thought you , ng to 



the schedule and 1 .c taking the individual item. I 

 have got it now. Tho highest cost of the 

 il- 10s. 9d. That is the cost at the end ol the first 

 year. It is arrived at by taking the C..M oi the tall 

 and working out the quantity of milk and meal and 

 o on. 



14.710. It is rather puzzling when we call a call a 



14.711. If Mr. Davidson ill turn to the statement 

 of the cost of production of store lambs put in by the 

 Teviotdale Farmers' ( lub I should lik. t,. hear hou 

 he proportions the cost between lambs and ewes? 

 i )/ . l>iiri,l.iiui\ : 11 you take Class 3 " Half-hrc.: 

 bringing cmss-i.red lambs on low country farms loo 



owes and 38 ewe lambs," the total charges coming 

 against the 100 ewes and 38 ewe lamK- amount to 

 423 4s. 4d. The gross receipts . 12s. 10d. 



If it costs 423 4s. 4d. to produce 497 12s. lod. h..w 

 much will it cost to produce one of the individual 

 in IMS, the 141 lambs, for instance, i' .'{."> 7 15s. Od.? 

 That makes the cost of production of the lambs 

 304 os. 4Jd., or 2 2s. 3d. per head. 



1-1,712. You work out the proportionate cost on the 

 proportionato value? Yes. 



14,713. Mr. Hatchclvi : Mr. Davidson, would you 

 please explain in regard to the statement of the 

 Teviotdale Farmers' Club how you arrive in class 1 at 

 so small a number of lambs sold as 47.- You ha\e 

 1OII cwc.s and '2-~> ewe lambs ill that class!- (Mr. llnvid- 

 M<) : \Ye start with 100 ewes in the autumn and you 

 have to deduct the percentage for winter and spring 

 deaths, eild ewes, etc., and taking the lambs at 75 

 per cent., or l"i to the score, that gives 7'J lambs. \Ye 

 sell 47 of those and keep 25 to maintain the stock; 

 it is a pore-brad stock 



11,711. Mr. McLaren, on the question of sheep, you 

 have eeen these figures of the Teviotdale Farmers' 

 Club? (Mr. McLaren): Yes. 



14,715. You represent quite a different class of 

 -heep. 1 understand? Yes, black-faced sheep, pure- 

 bred. 



1 1.716. Would there be any material difference in 

 your class of sheep as compared with these figm 

 The conditions are different the climatic conditions, 

 to begin with, and the expense of producing a lamb in 

 our district, is considerably greater than the figure 

 mentioned in the No. 1 statement put in by Mr. 

 Davidson. But I see, looking at his averages of sales, 

 that wo make up that difference; we get rather more 

 for our lambs when we sell them and it makes no dif- 

 I in the end, as it were. 



11.717. The resulting balance in each case is that 

 there would bo a working profit, whether on \otir 

 s\stem or on the system which prevails further south? 



Quite so. I might say we think it n most disas 

 trous season this last one, and if we get another like 

 it I am afraid that these costs will not stand? (.l/r. 

 'oint : Tho hill flocks are depleted in numbers, 

 they have had a disastrous time owing to the bad 

 winU-r .if 1!)17 and spring of 11U9. 



11.71^. Mr. Stewart, is it the rase in Fifoshire 

 before the recent reduction of hours that your plough- 

 men wrought, 60 hours per week in addition to stable 

 time? <Mr. N'.imrt): Not in Fifeshire. I b. 

 that Fife and Kinross are the only count i> 

 Scotland that did not work a 60 hour week. \\ 

 wrought a 9-hours day not including stable time 

 up till now or rather an average of ~>\ hours a week. 

 but in other ptrts of Scotland with the exception of 

 Fife and Kinrosc it has been a 60-hours week. 



14,719. Have you any figures you can put before 

 us in regard to what effect the reduction of hours 

 by 10 would have on costs. I understand that 10 

 is a reasonable figure to take as an average of the 

 reduction then- has been in the weekly number of 

 hours worked recently. Have you any figures you 

 can give us w : :h regard to cost as affected by that 

 reduction? I bavo figures I can give you showing 

 the comparison between a 10-hours working day 

 and an 8-hours working day. I estimate on a farm 

 that previously employed four pairs of horses it would 

 require five pahs of horses under the shorter hour? 



