INTRODUCTION XV 



his milk at exactly the price that careful and accurate records 

 show it to cost. Figuring roughly that labor was charged at 

 $30 per cow per year, the farmer with 10 cows would then 

 have $300 more than his neighbor at the end of the year, for 

 he would spend no more for his labor. In the summer his chil- 

 dren are at home and do the milking, and during the winter 

 it can be done by the farmer himself. He is therefore $300 

 better off at the end of the year than his neighbor. Some 

 contend that this is a division of labor, others that it has 

 nothing to do with the actual cost of milk. It is nevertheless 

 one of the important reasons why some dairy farmers are 

 apparently more prosperous than those on similar farms and 

 without cows. 



3. Some dairymen have land which can not be used for 

 anything except pasture, or have stover or inferior hay and 

 other feeds that can be utilized for milk production, but that 

 could not well be marketed. 



4. There are those who found the milk business profitable 

 when feed, labor, and other expenses were cheaper, and although 

 their price for the product may not have advanced in the same 

 proportion as cost, still they continue in the industry in the 

 hope that they will eventually get a higher price for the milk. 



5. With some farmers a few cows fit in well with the gen- ' 

 eral farm scheme. To this class belong those who have a 

 little pasture, those who want a certain quantity of manure 

 for a particular crop, and those who want a certain small 

 cash income throughout the year. It is the farmers with 

 small herds, more than any others, who produce the bulk of 

 the milk of this country, and keep the price low. 



The above reasons are not given to justify low prices of 

 milk, but rather to explain why some are producing milk 

 although when all actual costs are counted the business does 

 not show a profit. 



