92 PRIMARY RESULTS 



food residues, and the resultant figure is the cost of the 

 animal or animals in fat condition. Given the live- weight, 

 the cost per live-hundredweight or stone is determined. 

 No charge is necessary for rent in the case of housed animals. 

 The reason for making no apportionment of rent between 

 buildings and land has already been stated (see p. 56, ante), 

 and the live stock will pay their share of this charge in the 

 cost of the home-grown foods which they consume. In 

 the case of sheep an additional deduction from gross cost 

 may be necessary in respect of wool sold. Just as it is 

 impossible to separate the cost of grain from that of straw, 

 both being produced simultaneously by the same expendi- 

 ture, so it is impossible to divide the cost of sheep between 

 meat and wool. It is suggested, therefore, that the wool 

 should be regarded as a by-product in the production of 

 mutton, and any sum realized by its sale will then appear 

 in the account as a credit, going to reduce the net cost of the 

 meat. A sheep account kept in this way will show at once 

 to what extent mutton production is profitable per se, and 

 to what extent the profit depends upon the price of wool. 



The only difficulty likely to arise in the determination 

 of meat costs is in connexion with the initial figure of cost 

 for home-bred store stock. In the case of herds it is not 

 always necessary, nor is it ever requisite in the case of 

 flocks, to ascertain the cost of the young stock to be fed. 

 The breeding stock can be valued, year by year, at a fixed 

 price per head (see p. 40, ante) and when this figure is 

 credited the balance of the account represents the cost of 

 producing a certain weight of meat. Although this method 

 simplifies the work without loss of accuracy, and should be 

 applied wherever possible, it cannot be used exclusively 

 except in cases where the marketing of the finished product 

 is completed before the closing of the financial year. Where 

 there is unfinished stock on hand at the date of closing 

 a valuation^ by some method other than that applied to 

 breeding stock becomes necessary. Where the records of 

 labour and foods are kept in sufficient detail it may be possible 

 to value this class of stock at actual cost ; otherwise, in 

 view of the fact that they are shortly to be marketed, 



