THE COST OF RAISING A DAIRY COW. 



7 



upon pasture. (Fig. 1.) The feed cost per calf for the first month, 

 as shown in Table III, is in reality too high. This is caused by there 

 being a much larger number of calves fed exclusively on whole milk 

 during the latter part 

 of the month. As 

 shown in this table, 

 there is an average of 

 only 6.3 head for the 

 whole month, while 

 there actually were 

 only 1 or 2 at the be- 

 ginning and 18 at the 

 end. The fact that 

 the calves are fed 

 whole milk for only 

 about two weeks 

 makes the cost per 

 head appear too high 

 for the month. Where 

 the numbers remain 

 fairly constant, as 

 they do after the first 

 month, the monthly 

 averages per head are 

 true weighted averages. However, the sum of these monthly aver- 

 ages can not be expected to agree exactly with the weighted averages 

 for the year. 



Table III. — Relative feed cost per head of calves during the first year. 



Fig. 1. — A heifer calf at 10 months of age. During the 

 summer months the calves are on pasture. This is rep- 

 resentative of the size and condition of the calves at 

 this age on the Brigham farm. 



Year and month. 



Average 



number 



fed. 



Whole 

 milk. 



Skim 

 milk. 



Mixed 



hay. 



Silage. 



Grain 

 mixture. 



Pasture. 



Total. 



1909. 



6.3 

 18 

 22 

 23 



23 



23 



23 



23 



23 



20.7 



20 



20 



$5.26 



2.86 



.64 



.27 



.08 



SO. 01 

 .18 

 .56 

 .65 



.90 



.66 



.73 



1.13 



.77 

 .11 



$0.01 

 .05 

 .09 

 .23 



.38 

 .34 

 .53 

 .51 

 .69 

 .40 





$0.02 

 .14 



.68 



.77 



.98 

 .85 

 .93 

 .78 

 .83 

 .28 





$5.30 



October 







3.23 





$0.01 



.07 

 .10 

 .07 

 .14 

 .17 

 .07 





1.98 







1.92 



1910. 

 January 





2.41 







1.95 









2.26 



April 







2.56 



May 





$0.30 

 .50 

 .50 

 .50 



2.76 







1.36 



July 





.50 















.50 

















Yearly cost per 



5.22 



6.33 



3.56 



.70 



6.94 



1.S3 



24.58 









The yearly totals show that the whole milk represents 21.3 per 

 cent of the feed cost, while the skim milk represents 25.7 per cent. 



