44 MILK PRODUCTION COST ACCOUNTS 



from a few cents to $i or more per cow. In surveys in New 

 Hampshire Rasmussen ^ found that medicine alone amounted 

 to about 45 cents per cow. 



Another incidental expense is that for veterinary services 

 and for the supervisor of cow-testing associations where such 

 are used. On the average dairy the dairyman should be able 

 to handle ordinary diseases and should seldom be obliged to 

 call a veterinarian. An occasional visit from a veterinarian 

 is, however, necessary. The supervisor of a testing association 

 does a necessary work in herd management and can usually 

 do it cheaper and better than the dairyman. The cost of this 

 service depends upon the size of the herd. An average charge 

 of $1.50 per cow per year will cover it in most locaUties, while 

 the veterinary fees ought not to exceed 50 cents to $1 per 

 year per head. 



Where the milk must be deUvered to a station or creamery, 

 or even to a city, which involves the expense of hauling and 

 railroad transportation, a very material expense is incurred. 

 In the investigation of conditions in New England by the 

 Boston Chamber of Commerce ^ the average cost of collect- 

 ing and hauling to the station was about one-half cent per 

 quart, while the cost of railroad transportation on different 

 lines averaged about the same. With the 8,soo-pound pro- 

 ducers the cost of hauling and transportation at these rates 

 would be over $18 per year per cow. Long hauls with small 

 quantities of milk in some cases are made at a cost that makes 

 the milk business unprofitable. Cooperation in hauling greatly 

 reduces the cost to small producers. In studies by Hopper 

 and Robertson^ the average cost for delivery of 100 pounds 

 of milk was 11. 7 cents, with an average hauling cost of $145.16 

 per farm per year. 



This, although another item of legitimate charge to the cost 

 of production of milk, in some cases is not a real extra cost. 

 Often the country boy deUvers a can or two of milk on his 

 way to school, so that although an actual expense would 



1 New York Agr. Exp. Sta. (Cornell), Bull. No. 364, p. 133. 

 ' "investigations of Milk Situations in New England." 

 ' New York Agr. Exp. Sta. (Cornell), Bull. No. 357, p. 151. 



