December, 1931] Dairy Faeming in Grafton County 



87 



Table 76 — Milk production. Summary of costs for 5,566 cows. 

 (326 farms with 6 cows or more)* 



* Some farms were omitted which had six cows or more but lacked one or 

 more items of detail necessary in figuring costs of milk production. 



In contrast to the excellent net gain of 33 cents per 100 pounds of 

 milk when figured on the basis of costs and returns per cow, and quite 

 as important from the individual farmer's standpoint, are the costs and 

 returns per farm for producing milk. The corresponding average cost 

 for producing 100 pounds of milk per farm was $3.05, and the returns 

 for all milk sold and used were $3.00, a loss of 5 cents per hundred- 

 weight. 



If one operator produces 200,000 pounds of milk from 30 cows at a 

 cost of $2.50 per hundredweight, and another obtains only 20,000 

 pounds from 6 cows at a cost of $3.50, the average cost per farm is 

 j$3.00, but the average cost per hundredweight is $2.59. Therefore, the 

 figures in Table 77 indicate that operators of large businesses were 

 able to produce milk considerably cheaper than small producers and 

 that they got a little better price for milk. 



Significance of Cost Figures 



The most important use of cost of milk production figures for dairy- 

 men lies in the opportunity afforded to analyze methods of production 



