92 



MILK SURVEY OF THE CITY OF ROCHESTER 



TABLE No. 42 



EFFECT OF NUMBER OF COWS ON LABOR, BUILDING AND 

 EQUIPMENT COSTS 



From Table No. 42 it is clear that the number of hours of labor per 

 cow is greatly diminished by increasing the number of cows in a herd, 

 thus reducing the labor cost. The number of hours of labor per 100 

 pounds of milk is also diminished to a marked degree with an increase in 

 the number of cows per herd. While the receipts for labor per hour 

 are greatly increased, the cost of buildings per cow and the cost of equip- 

 ment per cow are greatly diminished by an increase in the number of 

 cows. This simply means that increase in the volume of business result- 

 ing from large herds reduces all of the costs. 



The number of cows contained in each of the herds of different sizes 

 and their percentage of the total, the quantity of milk produced by the 

 herds of different sizes and its percentage of the total, are shown in 

 Table No. 43 : 



TABLE No. 43 

 NUMBER OF COWS AND TOTAL MILK SUPPLY 



Per Cent, of 



Number Number of Total Number Total Milk Per Cent. Total 



of Cows. Cows in Group. of Cows. Sold Wholesale. Wholesale Milk. 



Under 10 184 8% 1,130,058 Ibs. 8% 



10 - 14. ... 524 23% 3,417,332 Ibs. 24% 



15 - 19. ... 579 25% 3,632,938 Ibs. 26% 



20 - 29. ... 611 26% 3,581,400 Ibs. 26% 



30 or over 416 18% 2,298,578 Ibs. 16% 



A review of the figures shown in Tables Nos. 37, 40 and 41 indicates 

 that if the dairy herds averaging less than 5,000 pounds of milk per cow 

 were eliminated, it would eliminate 12.3 per cent, of the supply and milk 

 which now costs from 10 to 15 cents per quart to produce. If all herds 

 with less than 10 cows were eliminated, it would remove 8 per cent, of the 

 supply and milk now costing 11.2 cents per quart to produce. 



HEARINGS ON THE COST OF PRODUCTION 

 In determining the cost of production for Rochester one branch of 

 the investigation had to do with the securing of information from wit- 

 nesses regarding the cost of production on dairy farms operated by them. 



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