UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 501 



OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 



W. J. SPILLMAN, Chief 



J^'^Ji. 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



February 20, 1917 



A STUDY IN THE COST OF PRODUCING MILK 

 ON FOUR DAIRY FARMS, LOCATED IN WIS- 

 CONSIN, MICHIGAN, PENNSYLVANIA, 

 AND NORTH CAROLINA. 



By Morton O. Cooper, Scientific Assistant; 0. M. Bennett, 

 Agriculturist, and L. M. Church, Assistant. 



CONTENTS. 



rage. 



The scope of the study 1 



Locations and descriptions of farms where 



cost records were obtained 2 



Methods of procuring data 4 



Factors involved in the cost of producing 



milk 4 



Feed and bedding 5 



Labor 10 



Use of buildings 12 



Use of equipment 12 



Use of bull 13 



Interest 13 



Depreciation ,,..,, 13 



Page. 

 Factors involved in the cost of producing 

 milk— Continued. 



Miscellaneous items 14 



Overhead 14 



Credits other than milk 14 



Quantity of milk produced ; 16 



Net cost per unit of product 17 



Data from other sources 19 



Discussion of results 21 



Relation of individual cow to cost of produc- 

 tion 29 



Summary 33 



Literature cited 34 



THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY. 



Concerning an enterprise so extensive as dairying, it is important 

 that something be known of the cost of production of the principal 

 dairy products and the economic factors affecting each. It has been 

 found that by making a detailed study of the business on an indi- 

 vidual farm it is possible to draw conclusions which, in a general way, 

 hold true for other farms of the same type operating under similar 

 conditions. By means of carefully kept cost-accounting records the 

 Office of Farm Management has procured data on the cost of producing 

 milk on four dairy farms of the better sort, located in separate and 

 distinctive dairy regions, namely, those of Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn- 

 sylvania, and North Carolina. These records cover periods of from four 

 to seven years. It is the purpose of this bulletin to outline the prob- 

 lem of obtaining the complete cost of producing milk on these farms 

 and to show the relationship among the various items making up the 

 total cost, as indicated by the data procured. 



68922°— Bull, 501—17 1 



