BULLETIN 423, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE, 



Table II. — Relation betiveen man labor employed, size of dairy herds, and use 



of tnechanical milkers. 





Number of herds of 



Number of men em- 



Number of dairy- 



Number of dairy 





each size. 



ployed per farm. 



cows per farm. 



cows per man. 



Area and size of herd. 





















On farms 



On farms 



On farms 



On farms 



On farms 



On farms 



On farms 



On farms 





with 



without 



with 



without 



with 



without 



with 



without 





machines. 



machines. 



machines. 



machines. 



machines. 



macMnes. 



machines. 



machines. 



Michigan-Ohio and 



















Illinois area: 



















15 cows or less 



26 



20 



1.68 



1.47 



12.3 



11.35 



7.3 



7.7 



16 to 30 cows 



54 



34 



2.19 



,2.33 



22.9 



22.8 



10.4 



9.8 



31 to 50 cows 



16 



6 



2.51 



3.29 



36.4 



38.3 



14.5 



11.6 



51 or more cows . . 



13 





3.73 





55.0 





14.7 





New York area: 











15 cows or less 



6 



8 



1.0 



1.51 



10.3 



12.9 



9.95 



8.5 



16 to 30 cows 



18 



29 



1.59 



1.91 



21.4 



23.1 



13.5 



12.1 



31 to 50 cows 



25 



10 



2.38 



2.5 



40.6 



42.0 



17.1 



16.8 



51 or more cows . . 



26 



35 



2.66 



3.82 



68.2 



72.0 



21.9 



18.8 



1 One farm in this group peddled milk in town and required extra labor; therefore it was not used in tMs 

 table. 



2 One farm in this group made butter, which raised the labor requirement of th« farm. The report was 

 not used in this table. 



s On a farm in this group only a small proportion of the cows kept were milked . The report was excluded 

 from this table. 



Table II also shows, under the heading " Number of men em- 

 ployed," that for herds of the same size slightly less labor is 

 employed on farms where the milking machine is used. This is true 

 in both New York and the Central States. In both sections those 

 farms using milking machines kept about two more cows per man. 

 The column headed "Number of dairy cows per man" refers to the 

 number of cows kept for each man employed on the farm throughout 

 the year. It is shown that the farms having larger herds keep more 

 cows in proportion to the labor employed. 



The amount of labor required to care for the herd and the period 

 of the year when the labor demands are greatest are important fac- 

 tors in determining the labor available for other farm work. In the 

 areas which were covered by this study it is the common practice to 

 maintain the herds on pasture during the growing season, which may 

 be roughly defined as between May 15 and November 1. During this 

 period the cows demand little attention other than that required in 

 getting them up to milk and turning them back to the pasture again, 

 both night and morning. On most farms they are given supple- 

 mentaiy feeds during the late summer, but this is usually in the form 

 of grain which can be fed in a few minutes when the herd is in the 

 stable. Occasionally some roughage is fed also. This consists mostly 

 of green corn cut and fed in the pasture lot or stable, which opera- 

 tion takes considerable extra time. The time taken to feed in the 

 summer, however, is offset by the fact that in those herds where feed- 

 ing is practiced the cattle come for their feed at milking time, while 

 in the case of the herd not fed it is necessary to go after them. 



From November 1 to May 15 the cattle are stabled, and during the 

 period they require considerable attention. In addition to feeding 



