THE COST OF LABOR 21 



It is the practice of some in figuring milk cost to conclude 

 that the manure offsets the cost of labor. This may not be 

 far from correct on farms where summer dairying is practiced 

 and the cows are allowed to go dry in the fall and gather 

 their winter maintenance from corn fields and straw stacks. 

 Sheppard and Richards ^ in their cost estimates state that: 



"Only the cost of feed is included in the cost of production. The 

 value of manure is taken as offsetting the cost of labor, as is cus- 

 tomary to do in preparing estimates of this kind. If the cows were 

 credited with the value of the manure, it would no doubt offset 

 the cost of labor required to care for the herd." 



With winter feeding and care, and especially where clean 

 milk is produced the manure is not worth the cost of labor. 



The number of cows in the herd is a factor to consider. 

 Certain operations take about the same time whether many 

 or few cows are kept. In general, it takes five times as long 

 to milk five cows as one, but twenty cows can be fed or brought 

 from the pasture in about the same time as five. The amount 

 of milk a cow gives is also important, for it requires no more, 

 or only a little more time to milk a cow that gives a large 

 quantity than one that produces less. 



The cost of labor required to care for a cow a year is given 

 by various authors as follows: Truman ^ $33.60, Minkler ' one 

 man for twelve cows, at $1.50 per day, or $43 per cow per 

 year, Rasmussen^ $22.33; on specialized dairy farms each man 

 takes care of fifteen cows, or $36 per cow per year. Hooper 

 and Robertson' estimate the cost at $23.12 per cow, or 154.5 

 hours a year, or 25.4 minutes per cow per day. Thompson * 

 states that on dairies studied, 155 hours of labor were required 

 to care for each cow and accompanying stock in herds of 

 twenty or less cows, and 107 hours in herds with more than 

 forty cows; the cost was $18.11. Johnson and Ford' state 



^ " Dairy herd records," No. Dak. Agr. Exp. Sta., Bull. No. 91, p. 153. 



' Storrs Conn. Exp. Sta., BuU. No. 73, p. 130. 



' New Jersey Exp. Sta., Report, 1909, p. 165. 



* New Hampshire Exp. Sta. Ext., Bull. No. 2, p. 9. 



' New York Exp. Sta. (Cornell), Bull. No. 357, p. 153. 



' Ibid., Bull. No. 364, pp. 147 and 140. 



' Missouri Agr. Exp. Sta., Bull. No. 125, p. 310. 



