No manufactured article will, for any length of time, be sold below 

 the cost of manufacture. The dairy farmer cannot continue to produce 

 milk at a cost of 4.92 cents per quart and sell it for about 4 cents per quart. 

 Unless the price is increased to the farmer, the production of milk will 

 necessarily decrease. A shortage of milk means a higher price for milk 

 to the consumer. Beef and eggs have almost doubled in price in the 

 last ten years, and the consumer is still buying both. An increase in 

 price of only 1 cent per quart to the farmer would encourage the dairy 

 farmer to continue to produce milk which at this time is of extreme im- 

 portance to the future development of the dairy business. The 1-cent 

 increase to the consumer which would necessarily follow would tend 

 to prevent a threatening shortage of milk in Boston and to prevent the 

 price of milk soaring to the same relative height as eggs and beef. 



Joseph B. Lindsey, Ph.D., Vice Director and Chemist of 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, in Bulle- 

 tin No. 145, September, 1913, says: — 



Cost of Milk Production {131 Cows, 1896-1911) 



Average yearly food cost per cow, 



Net yearly fixed charges per cow (estimated), 



Total cost per cow, .... 



Average yearly yield per cow (pounds) , 



Average yearly yield per cow (quarts), . 



Cost of milk (100 pounds), . 



Cost of milk (1 quart) (cents), 



1.24 



$56.00 



$145.24 



6,036.3 



2,683 



$2.41 



5.43 



In making the above calculations a quart of milk has been held to 

 weigh 2.25 pounds. The theoretical weight is 2.15 pounds, but the 

 shrinkage in handling is sufficient to warrant the use of 2.25 as a 

 practical conversion figure from pounds to quarts. The food cost 

 of a quart is found to be 3.33 cents, and the cost for care and supplies 

 (net fixed charges), 2.10 cents. The figures indicate that the farmer 

 having a superior herd of Jersey grades, whose average milk yield is 

 6,000 pounds per cow, should receive substantially 5.5 cents per quart 

 for it at the farm in order to get a fair market price for his roughage, 

 and $35 per year for his labor, per cow, or $420 for 12 cows. If he had 

 ordinary pasture for his herd this cost might be slightly reduced. ^ 

 Profit other than the sale of roughage is not included, neither is allow- 

 ance made for cost of supervision. Even if his herd consisted of grade 

 Holsteins or Ayershires it is doubtful if he would find it profitable to 

 sell his milk for less, unless the average j'early jdeld was considerably 

 in excess of the above. 



It is the belief of the writer that in the past a great deal of milk has 

 been made and sold for less than the cost of production. 



' The dry weather the last few summers has greatly reduced the value of the pasture. 



