A STUDY IN THE COST OF PEODUCING MILK. 



23 



Where this practice of supplementing the dairy business with the 

 production of cash crops is feasible, it is profitable for the dairyman 

 to sell some crops and purchase concentrates. If, by the growing of 

 a cash crop, it is possible from the net receipts of one acre to buy a 

 quantity of concentrates equivalent to that which could be raised on 

 1^ or 2 acres, it would be folly to grow the concentrates. In other 

 words, this class of feed should not be grown when it is possible to 

 raise some other crop at a greater profit without seriously affecting 

 the labor required on the farm. 



The majority of the cows in the United States are found on the 

 general or diversified farms. The herds on these farms are smaller 

 than on the specialized dairy farm, but there are so many farms of 

 this class that they produce the greater part of our dairy products, 

 aside from market milk. Owing to the meageniess of the receipts 

 per cow on many farms of this type, it is safe to assume that the 

 complete cost of the product is often more than the actual cash re- 

 ceipts. Nevertheless, cows are kept on these farms, and have been 

 kept for years. This would not be true if, on the average, their 

 owners did not feel that their farms produced greater incomes with 

 these cows than they could without them. 



The principal reason that this class of farmers can continue to 

 produce dairy products at an apparent loss, as shown by cost ac- 

 counts, is that in connection with the profitable production and mar- 

 keting of crops the cows consume by-products and low-grade ma- 

 terials, and also use land as pasture that otherwise would be wasted. 

 Moreover, the manure recovered is beneficial in further crop pro- 

 duction. The quantity of such feedable materials that otherwise 

 might largely be wasted if not fed to live stock, is in great measure 

 determined by the location of the farm in reference to markets. 

 That is, what may be a by-product on a farm several miles from a 

 railroad station or a city market may be a readily salable product 

 on a farm close to market. Different cropping systems yield different 

 quantities of these feedable materials. For example, a cropping 

 system of potatoes, beans, wheat, and hay wiU yield less feedable 

 by-products than corn, oats, wheat, and hay. Regardless of the 

 quantity of these materials produced on diversified farms, the fact 

 is that unless such materials are consumed and made into manure by 

 live stock such would, in many cases, be a total waste. In practice, 

 therefore, it is not a question of charging this feed on such farms at 

 $3, or $5 or $7 per ton, as must of course be done in cost accounting, 

 but of utilizing otherwise valueless material in such a way that it wiU 

 return something. The problem of these farmers is to make use of 

 this roughage on the farm and to convert it into a product which has 

 a ready market. These farmers have found that one of the best 

 ways of doing this is by feeding it to dairy cows. 



