10 BULLETIN 955, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The cost for upkeep and repairs was obtained by keeping a record of 

 actual expenditures made during the year. Necessary expenses, 

 such as roofing and painting, which do not occur every year, were 

 determined by prorating the costs over the length of life of the roof 

 or the duration of the paint and charging only the yearly share of 

 such expense. 



EQUIPMENT. 



Because of rapid wear and breakage farm tools and equipment 

 have a short life, which explains the depreciation charge of 30.4 

 per cent. The cost of such supplies as washing powder, coal oil, 

 and gasoline amounted to $1.99 per cow per year. 



Milk produced by a purebred cow has no greater value than that 

 produced by a grade cow. Raising purebred cattle is a separate 

 business involving larger investment and operating costs and re- 

 sulting in larger credits for calves dropped. To avoid the effect of 

 the piKebred business upon the requirements for producing milk, 

 the purebred cows found in the herds, which consisted mainly of 

 grade cows, were given values equal to those of grade cows of cor- 

 responding production. Purebred calves were likewise credited as 

 grade calves from grade cows of corresponding production. 



At the beginning and end of the year each cow was given an 

 inventory value. The first value was based on the price for which 

 the owner thought he could replace her. In order to avoid the 

 influence of market conditions her subsequent value remained the 

 same unless her owner thought that she had become a better or a 

 poorer cow. However, it was impossible in many cases to prevent 

 the market condition from influencing the judgment of the owner. 



To obtain the depreciation on cattle, the value of every cow that 

 entered the herds during the year was added to the inventory at 

 the begiiming of the year; from this result was subtracted the total 

 value of the cows at the end of the year plus the price received for 

 cows sold during the year. 



Taxes chargeable to the dairy were taken from the official tax 

 records. 



PERCENTAGE COMPARISON OF FACTORS INVOLVED. 



A comparison of the cost of producing milk in winter and in 

 summer, and the items chiefly responsible for this variation are 

 presented in Table 8 . 



The totals of the cost of production in the first two columns show 

 that it cost 4.6 per cent more to produce milk in winter than it did 

 in summer. The feed, bedding, and pasture cost was 5.2 per cent 



