VI. Seasonality of Production in Relation to the 



Assembly of Milk 



1. Unused Capacity is a Cost 



Variation in production means 

 variation in the utilization of equip- 

 ment. The farm tank capacity may be 

 fully used at certain times and par- 

 tially used at others. Tanks which 

 hold the peak month production will 

 have unused space in the lowest pro- 

 duction month. Similarly, tank trucks 

 purchased for the assembly of milk 

 to dealers will be hauling partial 

 loads during certain months, if the 

 number of oroducers remains the 

 same. Unused capacity of tank trucks 

 means a higher cost per cwt. for milk 

 transported than if the tank were full 

 and will increase average costs per 

 cwt. for the year's supply of milk 

 handled. A trucker hauling from pro- 

 Table 21. 

 Seasonality of Milk Receipts in the 



Greater Boston Marketing Area 

 for 1955 



Month 



Percentage of 

 Annual Receipts 1 



January 



February 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 



December 



6.8 

 7.0 

 8.1 

 9.0 

 10.7 

 11.0 

 8.6 

 7.8 

 8.4 

 7.9 

 7.2 

 7.5 



100.0 



1 Adjusted for difference in number of 

 days per month. 



ducers with equal monthly produc- 

 tion could keep his tank more fully 

 utilized with a resulting lower unit 

 cost per cwt. of milk than can a 

 trucker who has a varied load size. 

 The receipts in the Greater Boston 

 Marketing Area by month discloses 

 the seasonality pattern. Seasonal pat- 

 terns for milk receipts on local mark- 

 ets indicate less monthly variation. 1 



2. A Measure of Seasonality 



A measurement of production sea- 

 sonality which will be used here is 

 the seasonality ratio. This ratio is the 

 relationship of the producer's month- 

 ly production during his lowest pro- 

 duction month to the production of 

 his highest month. A hundred per 

 cent ratio therefore would indicate 

 no seasonality. A ratio of 30 would 

 indicate that production in the low- 

 est month was only 30 percent of 

 production in the highest month, 

 which is a highly seasonal produc- 

 tion pattern. 



3. Seasonality of Producers 

 Using Cans 



For those producers delivering in 

 cans there were 17 percent with sea- 

 sonality ratios of 80 to 100. There 

 were 48 percent with ratios of 50 

 to 70 and 35 percent with ratios be- 

 low 50. This last groun showed the 

 greatest seasonality and the greatest 

 potential handling and transportation 

 cost. There is greater likelihood of 



1 Unpublished study on local market receipts by Homer Metzger, Department of 

 Agricultural Economics, University of Maine. 



21 



