THE FUNCTIONS OF A COST SYSTEM $ 



There is even greater direct benefit from keeping records 

 of costs in milk production than in other lines. The most im- 

 portant records and the ones that require most time to keep 

 are absolutely necessary to intelligent feeding. It is necessary 

 for a feeder of milch cows to know just how much each cow 

 consumes and how much milk results. He must have a record 

 of previous days. Records of the weight of the milk together 

 with the weight of feeds make accurate and eflScient feeding 

 possible. The statement that one can no more feed a cow 

 intelligently without a record of production each day and of 

 the weight of feed than a fireman can attend a boiler without 

 a steam gauge is true. It is economy to increase coal if the 

 boiler responds with sufficient increase of steam power, but 

 there is danger if too much coal is used. With a cow it is 

 profitable to increase the feed as long as she responds with a 

 sufficient increase in milk, but there is danger of over feeding 

 and "throwing the cow off feed." The most profitable pro- 

 duction of a cow is only secured by intelligent feeding and a 

 careful study of the milk and feed records, and it is these 

 records that form a large part of those necessary in milk cost 

 accounting. 



The amount of time required to keep these records is slight. 

 A milk scales near the milk tank, and a simple chart with the 

 cows' names or numbers and blanks for the different days are 

 all that is needed for the milk records, and the same scales 

 and a very similar feed chart can be attached to the feed bin 

 or cart for keeping a record of the quantity of feed used. The 

 other items of cost can be kept with even less labor. An 

 occasional weighing of the bedding, simple labor records, and 

 records of expenditures for special apparatus cover the other 

 chief factors of cost that require definite and special accounts. 

 These data can be calculated with little trouble. 



The standards given are offered only as a guide, and although 

 local conditions may, for example, make it possible to bed the 

 cows more cheaply with sawdust than with shavings or straw, 

 the relative amounts given will apply, and when other ma- 

 terial is substituted in the formula the actual cost may still 

 be given. 



