CHAPTER VII 



COST OF PRODUCING AND DISTRIBUTING CLEAN 



MILK 



A FEW words first in regard to the cost of production and 

 profits on ordinary milk sold to creameries, for butter and 

 other products; and for consumption as market milk in 

 cities and towns throughout the United States. 

 It has become only too evident to readers of dairy literature 

 of late that a large number, perhaps the majority, of milch cows 

 in this country do not yield any considerable profit to their owners. 

 In the Cow Census made by Hoard's Dairyman in Vermont 

 (see the number for August ist, 1905), it was shown that out of 

 100 dairies, 69 did not pay the cost of keeping the cows. The cows 

 were natives or grades. 



The estimated cost of feeding ranged from $33.50 to $41.00 

 per cow, per year. The annual profit per cow, of the 31 dairies 

 which paid any profit, varied from 43 cents to $22.57. The losses 

 per cow annually, in the dairies which did not pay, ran from 2 

 cents to $21.46. The production of the dairies varied from 72 to 

 270 lbs. of butter fat per cow annually. 



Again, in a report of the Ohio Cow Census in Hoard's Dairy- 

 man of April 28, 1905, we find that among 87 herds representing 

 635 cows, with a yearly average of 3,839 lbs. of milk per cow, the 

 average yearly return was $29.93 P er cow ' Among this number 

 of 87 herds, 29 herds were kept at a loss, and out of the whole 87, 

 only 26 herds paid a yearly profit of over $5 per cow to the owners. 



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