AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF DAIRYING 287 



Labor 



Some farmers hauled their own milk, while many hired it hauled. Some 

 spent considerable time in making and repairing pasture fences or in 

 constructing and repairing buildings, while others spent little. For these 

 reasons it was thought best to include such time under charges for milk 

 hauling, pasture, and use of buildings, rather than under labor. 



Excepting this, and also time spent in raising and harvesting crops 

 and time spent hauling manure from the barnyard, all human and horse 

 labor for the dairy enterprise was charged under the heading Labor. 

 This includes all labor in milking, taking care of milk and dairy equipment, 

 feeding, cleaning cattle and stables, hauling and mixing feed, hauling 

 bedding, buying and selling cattle, and? all other time spent for cattle. 

 Not only was this labor divided as to whether it was spent for cows, for 

 heifers, or for herd bulls, but it was also divided according to whether it 

 was spent during the pasture period or during the winter period. The 

 average wage of male farm labor without board in New York in 1915 

 was $35.80 a month. 6 This is about fifteen cents an hour for a nine-hour 

 day, but probably is too low because use of house, wood, and other things 

 furnished are not included in all cases. Farm operators, however, could 

 ordinarily hire out to operate farms at more than hired men's wages, 

 and their time, therefore, should be counted at a higher rate. The time of 

 women and children usually is not so valuable as the time of men. 



The cost of labor per hour depends largely on the size of the business, 

 on the layout of the farm, on the type and intensity of farming, and on 

 wages. Other things being equal, the rates are usually higher on the one- 

 man farms than on the two-man farms. But since no records of the cost 

 of labor on these farms were available, it was necessary to charge labor 

 to dairy cattle at the same rate on each farm, irrespective of the variations 

 mentioned. 



Man labor was charged at 15 cents an hour. Since no records of any 

 kind were available to show what woman and child labor cost, it was 

 charged at 10 cents an hour. Horse labor was charged at 15 cents 

 an hour. 



The data for labor costs are given in table 7 (page 288). 



Milk hauling 



In order to make comparisons between farms that hired milk hauled 

 and those where milk was hauled by the farmer, the cost of hauling milk 

 was kept separate from other costs. 



When the farmer drew his own milk only, or when he cooperated with 

 neighbors in hauling, the cost was found by multiplying the hours of 

 human and horse time required by the same rates per hour as were used 

 for other labor. 



* United States Department of Agriculture. Monthly crop report, March, 1917, page 25. 



