December, 1931] Daiky Farming in Grafton County 



Cost of Milk Production and Labor Income 



89. 



The cost of milk production varied widely from farm to farm and 

 had an important bearing on labor income (Table 78). On thirty-nine 

 farms the milk was produced at an average cost of $1.74 per hundred- 

 weight. There were nearly twice as many farms on which the average 

 cost was $4.72, and there were all gradations in between. The first 

 group, producing milk at the lowest cost, had an average labor income 

 of $1,299 in spite of a rather low selling price of $2.85 per 100 pounds 

 of milk. The last group of 72 farms with the highest average cost of 

 production provided an average labor income of only — $177, although 

 the price of $3.01 for milk sold was about average. The most obvious 

 prerequisite for low cost indicated in the table is milk production per 

 cow, which averaged 6,423 pounds in the first group and only 3,856 in 

 the last one. Another contributing cause is more cows per farm. De- 

 creasing efficiency accompanied increased costs as indicated by addi- 

 tional man hours per cow. 



Table 78 — Relation of cost of milk to labor income and other factors. 



Average. 



Total or 



average 



326 



1,522 5,232 



,903 



162 



17.0 5,155 $3.05 $3.00 $441 



Factors Influencing' Cost of Milk Production 



Number of Cows 



Number of cows should affect total milk produced and account for 

 some of the difference between a weighted average cost per hun- 

 dredweight of milk and a simple average cost per farm. In Table 79, 

 the first group of farms had an average of 9.4 cows and the last group, 

 36.1. The average cost of producing milk on the farms with fewer 

 cows was about 50 cents above average and on the larger farms 

 about 50 cents below average, — a difference of nearly $1.00 per hun- 

 dredweight. There was also a difference in selling price of 25 cents 

 per hundredweight, favorable to the larger farms. Much of the sav- 

 ing in cost comes from the better use of labor. An average of less 

 than half as many hours of human effort was required to take care 

 of a cow in the last group as in the first. Man hours per cow were only 

 102 in one ease but 209 in the other. Average labor incomes reflected 

 all these differences by changing from $240 to $867. 



