COST OF KEEPING FARM HORSES. 



17 



In order to show the relation existing, if any, between the total 

 of work done by a horse and the total cost of feed, the yearly records 

 for each State were divided into two groups with reference to the 

 average total of work done per horse. (See Table 12.) The first 

 group contains the data for those farms on which the horses worked 

 more hours than the average for all records in that State. The 

 second group contains data for those farms on which the hours 

 worked per horse were less than the average for the State group. 



Table 12. — Relation of work done to the total feed cost, by States (27 farms, 316 horses). 





Illinois (154 horses — 

 average hours worked 

 1,053). 



Ohio (72 horses — aver- 

 age hours worked 



867). 



New York (90 horses — 

 average hours worked 

 1,020). 



Records with work hours 

 per horse — 



Aver- 

 age 



hours 



worked 



per 



horse. 



Aver- 

 age feed 

 cost per 



horse. 



Aver- 

 age feed 

 cost per 



hour. 



Aver- 

 age 



hours 



worked 



per 



horse. 



Aver- 

 age feed 

 cost per 



horse. 



Aver- 

 age feed 

 cost per 



hour. 



Aver- 

 age 



hours 



worked 



per 



horse. 



Aver- 

 age feed 

 cost per 



horse. 



Aver- 

 age feed 

 cost per 



hour. 





1,200 

 880 



$75. 20 

 67.30 



$0. 063 

 .077 



1,055 

 723 



$89. 00 

 67. 30 



$d! 084 

 .093 



1,172 



863 



$97. 30 

 85.00 



$0. 084 





.098 









320 



7.90 



.014 



332 



21.70 



.009 



309 



12.30 



.014 







1 The number of records included are as follows: "Above the average" in Illinois 8; in Ohio, 7; in New 

 York 9. "Below the average" in Illinois 9; in Ohio 9; in New York 9. 



From this table it will be seen that the average feed cost per horse 

 in each State group was greater for those horses that worked more 

 hours than the average for the group, showing that there is a certain 

 relation between the work done and the quantity of feed consumed per 

 horse. Referring to the average feed cost per hour of labor, it will 

 be seen that the excess in feed cost for the harder-working horses 

 was more than offset by the extra number of hours worked by them, 

 so that the average feed cost per hour of labor in this group was 

 about 1J cents less on the Illinois and New York farms and about 

 1 cent less on the Ohio farms. A further study of these factors, 

 together with the relation of the total hours of labor worked to the total 

 cost per hour of horse labor on all farms, is shown in fig. 2. Refer- 

 ring to the lower line and each " X " in this graph, it will be seen that 

 while there was a tendency for the feed cost per hour to decrease as 

 the total hours worked increased, on different farms where the horses 

 worked approximately the same number of hours, there was a wide 

 variation in the average feed cost per hour of labor. 



This variation was especially noticeable in the case of those horses 

 that worked from 800 to 900 hours per year. In this group the aver- 

 age feed cost per hour varied on different farms from about 4| cents 

 to 1 1 f cents. On one farm in the group of horses that worked between 

 500 and 600 hours, the feed cost per hour was 19 cents. This high 

 cost was due to the fact that the horses were fed heavily on the best 

 of feed throughout the year, though working but few hours per day. 



