442 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— M. 



commonly 14c?. Many individual high costs are temporary and due to 

 accidental factors. Average costs do not vary with marketing ' regions,' 

 in several cases the averages for these regions run close to the figure for the 

 whole country. It may be possible that one or two ' regions ' will show 

 costs generally or more or less permanently higher than the national average, 

 but there are very few areas in which costs cannot be adjusted to lower price 

 levels if that is necessary. There are factors making for reduction in costs, 

 but these are more or less counterbalanced by demands for higher standards 

 of cleanliness. Farmers endeavour to maximise total profits from their 

 herds, and profits do not necessarily follow prices upwards or downwards, 

 because of elasticity as regards methods of production. But when con- 

 ditions of supply are set, these tend to set levels of costs, and these costs 

 must be covered by necessary prices. Factors making for cost reduction 

 are (a) increase in yield per unit of feed input ; (b) improvement in production 

 of grass and increase in ' grass ' in total feed supply ; (c) increase in size of 

 herd. Reduction in rate of depreciation of cows is required and improved 

 buildings and water supplies would raise the economy of feed and labour. 



Mr. John Orr. — Economics of feeding for milk (11.0). 



A reduction in the cost of producing milk of a given amount is of more 

 advantage to the farmer than an increase in its price by a similar amount. 

 The cost of production is unnecessarily high on most farms. This means 

 that the cost of feeding is too high. In the period from November i, 1934, 

 to September 30, 1935, over the whole of England and Wales the cost of 

 food was 62 per cent, of the total cost of producing milk. Research has 

 revealed that in four different parts of England, from Lancashire to Dorset, 

 the average cost of 1 lb. of starch equivalent obtained from purchased cake 

 and meal is 1 -04^. There is no great variation from farm to farm. It has 

 also revealed that in those areas there are farms where the cost of 1 lb. of 

 starch equivalent obtained from grass is o • 25<i., o • 27<f ., and o • 28 d. That is, 

 the cost of food from well-cultivated grass is only one-quarter of its cost 

 from purchased cake and meal. On other farms, however, the cost from 

 grass ranges from o • 79^. to 1 ■ 40c/. These high costs arise from seriously 

 imperfect cultivation and management of grass. In their fields farmers 

 have the opportunity of producing the soundest food from the financial 

 point of view. It is in their own immediate interest and in the interest of 

 the country that they should make full use of this : in other words, that 

 their own land should produce its utmost before they turn to the produce 

 of other lands. 



Mr. A. D. Buchanan Smith. — Breeding for milk yield and uniformity 

 (11.20). 



It is not the function of the geneticist to determine the optimum yield 

 of dairy cattle for any type of farming, but to advise the farmer how he may 

 secure that yield with uniformity in his cows. There can never be a best 

 breed of dairy cattle. High production and phenomenal yields can be 

 justified by the fact that the germplasm of such animals can the most easily 

 effect improvement on the average of the breed. This holds equally good 

 for breeds with comparatively low levels of production. For the future, 

 uniformity of production is to be desired in the application of the progeny 

 test to bulls of a dairy breed. 



The pedigree breeder should endeavour to improve his herd in stages 



