Cost of Feeding, i 



Silage, 4 tons at $4, $16 00 



Hay, 1^ tons at $1,6 24 00 



Grain, 1} tons at $30 37 50 



Pasture, four months, ......... 8 00 



Total $85 50 



In years when pasture is short, and grain and silage or green fodder 

 must be fed all summer, the cost per year will frequently go up as high 

 as $100. 



The total cost of keeping each cow per year, therefore, is as follows : — 



Feed 



Bedding, ..... 



Keep of bull (for herd of 25 cows) , 



Taxes on cow and barn, 



Interest on money invested in cows. 



Barn rent, ..... 



Insurance, ..... 



Depreciation of cow, . 



Light, medicine, etc., . 



Labor, ..... 



Total, 



The cows thus fed and cared for included Jerseys, Guernseys, 

 Ayershires and Holsteins. Some were very good producers, others 

 only fair. The average for the whole lot for the five years was 6,378 

 pounds per cow, which on the basis of 2j ^ pounds to the quart is equal 

 to 2,834 quarts. Although this is not a heavy yield, it is a good aver- 

 age for a herd of 25 cows made up of several breeds. It requires extra 

 skill and good management to increase the yield beyond this point. 

 When it is remembered that the average yearly production for the 

 New England States is less than 2,200 quarts per cow, it will seem 

 that a herd making over 2,834 is doing fairly well. It is useless there- 

 fore, to hope to decrease the cost of milk by much further increase in 

 the yearly production of the cows. Any material increase over 3,000 

 quarts in a large herd comes high from the necessary weeding out of 

 ordinary producers and the small numbers of high producers to be 

 found. 



The cow should be credited with her calves and with the manure 

 she makes. We cannot allow more than $5 per year for calves, nor 

 more than $10 per year for manure in the barnyard. We can, there- 

 fore, credit the cow with $15 and subtract that amount from the $150 



* These figures represent the average cost of five years, 1907-11, and are somewhat too low 

 for 1913. 



2 The theoretical weight of a quart of milk is 2.15 pounds. Considering, however, waste 

 which necessarily occurs in handling, 2.25 pounds more nearly represents what could be 

 actually sold. Hence 2.25 is used in reducing pounds to quarts. 



