No. 4.] BEEF PRODUCTION. 59 



Second Day. 



The second day's meeting was called to order at 10.30 a.m. 

 by Secretary Wheeler, who introduced Mr, George E. Taylor, 

 Jr., of Shelbiirne as the chairman of the meeting. 



ADDRESS OF MR. GEORGE E. TAYLOR, Jr. 



Mr. Secretary, Ladies and Gentlemen: Yesterday afternoon 

 we heard complaints voiced here on the decrease in the number 

 of dairy cows in the State of Massachusetts. The reasons 

 ascribed to that decrease may or may not coincide with your 

 ideas. I think that there are reasons that were not brought 

 out. I believe that the labor question is one affecting that 

 problem as much, perhaps, as any one item. A man who has 

 twenty cows to milk and has to get along with help who are 

 rather particular about working more than eight hours a day 

 is rather in a hole. Now, it seems to me that the cost of 

 production of milk and the selling price of the same are in too 

 close a ratio. I was rather interested this summer in watching 

 the workings of our Franklin County Dairy Improvement 

 Association and the results obtained by that association. We 

 figured the cost of the milk production very closely and the 

 selling price of the same. Taking the cost of the food value 

 alone, the actual food-value cost of the milk was from 2^ to 

 3 J cents. We did not take into account interest on the invest- 

 ment or depreciation, the cost of selling or the labor required 

 in the care of the cattle. So that you can see, if you are 

 selling milk for 4 cents, and the actual food cost of the same 

 is 3 J cents, you are not getting out whole. Lots of milk is 

 sold as cream to the co-operative creameries that does not 

 bring 2§ cents. Now, the price of beef in the Chicago market 

 is from 7^ to 11 cents a pound on foot. This, I think, is one 

 factor that has made the decrease in the number of milch 

 cows in the State of Massachusetts. If you can get $75 for 

 a good cow for beef, when you are getting 3 or 4 cents a quart 

 for your milk, the chances are you may let her go for that 

 reason. That is one reason why we get the decrease in the 

 number of cows. Now, it seems to me that taking those con- 



