366 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



follows: 80 cattle at $75 each, equivalent to $6,000; 20 cattle at $100 each, 

 equivalent to $2,000; total value of herd, $8,000. The /interest on this capital 

 at 5 per cent per annum is equivalent to $400. Between the interest in the 

 capital invested on the untested herd and the interest on the capital invested 

 in the tested herd the difference amounts, therefore, to but $25 per annum. This 

 amount is distributed over the entire output of a herd of 100 cows for 12 months. 

 It represents the increased cost to the producer of producing milk from tuber- 

 culin-tested cattle. This amount would probably be materially reduced if not 

 altogether eliminated by the increased period of usefulness of the tuberculosis- 

 free cattle as compared with those infected with the disease otherwise in the 

 herd. 



Viewing the matter in the light most favorable to the producer, the increased 

 cost of producing milk from tuberculin-tested cows should not amount to more 

 than a small fraction of a cent per gallon. Taking the herd of 100 cows, untested, 

 worth $75 per cow, the gross value of the herd would be $7,500. Kill 20 per cent 

 of these cows on account of tuberculosis, without remuneration of any kind to 

 the farmer, and appraise the remaining 80 animals as still worth as much as 

 the entire herd $7.500. Replace the 20 animals that have been destroyed by 

 20 tuberculin-tested cows costing $100 per cow, or $2,000. The value of the 

 100 tuberculin-tested cows would then be $9,500. Five per cent on this invest- 

 ment would amount to $475 per annum, or just $100 per annum more than the 

 interest charged on the untested herd. If then we presume that the average 

 production for each animal in the entire herd is but 1 gallons per day, the pro- 

 duction of the herd for the entire year will be 36,500 gallons, and the increased 

 cost per gallon, representing the interest charge on the increased cost of the 

 herd, would amount to one-fifth of 1 per cent 



Of course, if a larger percentage of the herd reacted, the net increase in the 

 cost of production would be increased, but it does not appear likely that there 

 will be any material increase. In view of the experience with respect to the 

 testing of cattle in the District, however, it would appear that the figure taken 

 for condemnations 20 per cent was extremely liberal. 



14. Would the tuberculin test, as a matter of practice, require to be applied 

 on the farm, or would it be practicable to establish testing laboratories within 

 convenient reach of most farms supplying milk to the District of Columbia? 



Answer. As a matter of practice, the tuberculin test would ordinarily have to 

 be applied on the farm. Some cattle might be tested in the hands of dealers, 

 and possibly quarantine or testing stations might be established to economize 

 with respect to the application of the test. 



15. Would the enforcement of the tuberculin test, in your judgment, create 

 a milk famine in the District of Columbia? 



Answer. If the test could be applied within a day or a week, and were so 

 applied, a milk famine would undoubtedly result. If the application of the 

 tests in the first instance were spread over a reasonable length of time, no 

 famine would result. Under ordinary conditions, the routine application of the 

 test would not diminish the milk supply. 



16. Please furnish, if practicable, a statement of mortality, and especially of 

 infant mortality, in the District of Columbia for some years past. 



DIarrheal diseases from years 1880 to 1899, inclusive, are for fiscal years. 



