THE COST OF RAISING A DAIRY COW. 



9 



this they are fed grain, and later when all are through eating they 

 are released. As the hay storage space is not large enough in this 

 barn for the yearly supply for the calves, toward the latter part of 

 the winter it is necessary to replenish the supply from stacks in the 

 field. Horses are used for work of this kind. The large amount of 

 labor in March is due to hay hauling and the getting of the yearly 

 fuel supply for heating the milk. 



Table IV. — Average number of hours of man and horse labor per calf and its 

 cost for the first year for an average of 20 42 head of calves. 





Average 



number 



fed. 



Man labor. 



Horse 

 labor. 



Total 

 cost. 1 



Year and month. 



Per 

 month. 



Per day. 



1909. 



6.3 

 18 

 22 

 23 



23 



23 



23 



23 



23 



20.7 



20 



20 



Hours. 

 6.5 

 3.3 

 4.4 

 4.2 



4.3 

 3.8 

 6.2 

 4.3 

 3.9 

 .3 



Minutes. 

 13 

 6 

 9 

 8 



8 

 8 

 12 

 9 

 8 

 1 



Hours. 



SO. 78 



October 



0.04 

 .16 



.40 





.54 





.50 



1910. 

 January 



.25 

 .48 

 2.00 

 .07 

 .11 



.54 



February 



.51 



March 



.94 



April 



.52 



May 



.48 



June 



.03 



July 







August 

























39.90 





3.50 



5.14 











1 Rates per hour: Man labor, 12 cents; horse labor, 10 cents. 



The total amount of time required per head for the year is about 

 40 hours of man labor, which is about 8 minutes per day for the 9 

 full months in the barn. Only 3.5 hours of horse labor were required. 

 This requirement is a variable quantity and makes only a small part 

 of the total labor cost of $5.14 for the year. Barring the first month, 

 when the young calves need extra attention, the labor cost for ordi- 

 nary care is quite uniform for the different months of the period 

 they are in the barn. When on pasture no labor is required, but 

 the calves are daily under the observation of the herdsman as he 

 cares for the herd and special attention would be given them if 

 needed. 



The first and second months stand out as the most expensive period 

 of the year, for then the calves are dependent largely on milk and 

 require extra attention. The combined cost for feed and labor dur- 

 ing these two months amounts to 32.5 per cent of the yearly cost, 

 which is $29.72. 



QUANTITY OF FEED CONSUMED DURING THE SECOND YEAR. 



Beginning the second year the heifers are on pasture until about 

 November 1. They are then given the run of a small yard and open 

 16124°— Bull. 49—14 2 



