INTERPRETATION OF COST ACCOUNTS 371 



of a livestock comparative analysis page to show certain 

 unit facts of interest concerning the products of the ani- 

 mals. Care should be exercised, however, in interpreting 

 the figures so presented. If the total cost of maintaining 

 poultry for a year is $64 (including interest, feed, labor 

 and all other elements of cost), and 400 dozen eggs are 

 gathered, one should not say that it cost 16 cents 

 (64 -r- 400) a dozen to produce eggs. It is so common on 

 the average farm to use or sell poujtry for meat that some 

 of the cost of $64 is expended in an effort to keep the flock 

 alive for other purposes than to lay eggs. 



In a Comparative Analysis of Poultry, it is a good plan 

 to show the number of dozen eggs per hen or some similar 

 figures. Likewise, in the case of dairy cattle, the number of 

 pounds or gallons of milk and cream per cow may be 

 shown. The number of pounds of wool per sheep is simi- 

 larly shown in the Analysis of Sheep Account. For experi- 

 mental purposes a record is made of the milk or wool taken 

 from each cow or sheep. Such a detailed procedure, natu- 

 rally, is not practical on the average farm. 



Accounts as a Guide to Management. The preparation 

 of analytical and comparative tabulations is one of the 

 stepping stones to successful farm management. In con- 

 nection with some of the tabulations on the several preced- 

 ing pages, suggestions have been made as to the ways they 

 might be interpreted in order to assist in shaping the poli- 

 cies of the farmer. No attempt is made herein to state how 

 the farmer shall remedy conditions after his attention is 

 called to them by the accounts and analyses. A consider- 

 ation of such remedies is a part of farm management. 



In general it may be stated that accounts and cost rec- 

 ords of various sorts, including analytical tables, present 

 facts which cause the farmer (1) to alter present methods 

 of operation or (2) initiate new projects. This should not 

 be interpreted a<s meaning that every account or cost record 



