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BULLETIN 409 

 TABLE 23. MISCELLANEOUS RETURNS 



Summary of costs and returns 



The separate items of costs and returns for the whole enterprise, and 

 for cows, heifers, herd bulls, and veals and bulls to be sold, given in previous 

 tables, are summarized in table 24. 



Cost of producing milk and butterfat 



In this investigation two different methods of calculating the cost of 

 producing milk or butterfat were used. 



By one method, considering the entire herd as a unit, all returns from 

 the herd except milk sold were deducted from the total herd costs, and 

 the difference was considered the cost of milk or fat sold. Any expense 

 for raising young cattle to replace the herd was included in determining 

 the cost of production. The cost calculated in this manner is designated 

 thruout this bulletin as the " herd cost " of milk or butterfat. 



By the second method, the returns from cows other than milk sold 

 were deducted from the total cost of keeping cows to determine the cost of 

 milk or fat. Bull service was charged at cost. The raising of heifers to 

 replace the herd was considered separately, and any loss or gain on them 

 was not charged nor credited to milk production. The cost determined 

 in this manner is designated thruout this bulletin as the " cow cost " of 

 producing milk or butterfat. 



The herd cost and the cow cost of milk are practically identical. The 

 herd cost is the simpler to calculate, because it is not necessary to separate 

 the feed, labor, and other costs for heifers, bulls, and other cattle. But 

 the quantities of feed and labor used by the herd per hundred pounds of 

 milk are not so useful as the quantities used by cows only. 



In purebred herds, the value of young stock for breeding purposes is 

 sometimes so great as to make the herd cost of producing milk very low. 

 The investment in cows, depreciation on cows, amount of feed and labor, 

 bull service, and all other costs, are higher for purebred than for grade 

 herds. But the greater value of the calves at birth usually more than 

 offsets these higher costs, so that the cow cost of producing milk is also 

 usually less in purebred than in grade herds. 



