322 



BULLETIN 409 



If they received 15 cents an hour for all man time and 10 cents an hour 

 for all time of women and children, and interest on their investment, they 

 then received 90 per cent of the value of hay and other roughage used. 



If it be assumed that the cost of feed and human labor represents the 

 same proportion of the net cost of producing milk when feed and labor 

 costs are high as when they are low, and that the quantities found in thi? 

 study are used in the production of milk, then the yearly cost for 192^ 

 price conditions may be computed as shown in table 36. The cost with 

 the prices used would be $3.47 per hundred pounds. The index number 

 of the prices of all commodities in the United States for the year 1920 was 

 243, as compared with 99 for the twelve months covered by this investiga- 

 tion. 8 The average price paid in 1920 to producers of milk for the New 

 York market was $3.56 per hundred pounds. 9 Considering that the general 

 price level stood at 245 as compared with that of 1914-15, this price of 

 $3.56 in 1920 was about equal to a price of $1.45 in the years covered by 

 this study. A cost of $3.47 would be approximately no greater when 

 compared with the general price level than a cost of $1.42 in 1914-15. 

 In the spring months of March, April, and May, 1920, the price of milk 

 was low relative to feed and labor costs, but considering the year as a 

 whole, it would appear that prices paid to shippers of fluid milk for the 

 New York market were fairly well adjusted to cost of production. 



The figures for costs and returns are given in table 35, and the probable 

 cost in 1920 of keeping a cow and producing milk is shown in table 36. 



TABLE 36. PROBABLE COST IN 1920 OF PRODUCING MILK 



Per cent of net cost, 83.9 



Size of herd 



Of the herds on the farms studied, 36 per cent had from six to ten 

 cows, 26 per cent had more than ten but not more than fourteen cows, 18 



8 United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly Review, vol. 12, no. 5, May, 1921. 



9 The Milk Reporter, Sussex, New Jersey, January, 1921, page 16. 



