MILK PRODUCTION 417 



So far as food is purchased, it is of course to be 

 charged not at the value in the open market but at the 

 price paid, with the cost of conveyance added. When grown 

 upon the farm, it is to be reckoned not at the market but 

 at the home value, which may be set down as approximately 

 20 per cent less than the market value under average con- 

 ditions. This important factor should be taken into the 

 account when studying the reports of experiment stations 

 on animal production, as these usually charge food at 

 market values. 



Variations in the value of foods, the result of location 

 and other conditions may make a difference of not less 

 -than 50 per cent in the cost of production. Fertility or the 

 lack of this has an important influence on the cost of home 

 grown foods. The proportion of roughage to concentrates 

 fed, especially when succulent and nutritious, as silage, 

 tends to cheapen production. In an experiment at the 

 Utah station, the cost of maintaining a dairy cow for a 

 year was $22.28; while at the Cornell university it was 



$45.25. 



The influence of adaptation in the cow for production 

 is, in some instances, greater even than that of food values 

 on the cost of production. In the test referred to above at 

 the Cornell university, the particulars of which are given 

 in Bulletin No. 32, issued by that institution, there were 

 20 cows. The cost of producing 100 pounds of milk varied 

 all the way from 44 cents to $1.07 per cow. The cost of 

 food with the former was $43.12 for the year and with 

 the latter $36.24. In the case of a very young heifer, the 

 cost of producing 100 pounds of milk was $1.46, but be- 

 cause of her tender age she is excluded from the compari- 

 son. The cost of producing butter fat varied from 1 1 cents 

 to 27 cents per pound. Excluding the heifer referred to, 

 the yields of milk for the year varied from 3,387.75 to 

 11,165 pounds. To produce the former cost in food $36.24, 

 and to produce the latter $52.06. Valuing the milk at 70 

 cents per 100 pounds, the difference in the net production 



