1922. j Cost ov Manual Laiuhk in Milk Production. 41ft 



devices that lie will in a large number of cases have to look in 

 order to affect the necessary economies. 



During the year 1916-17, in the 14 herds then under observa- 

 tion .15 per cent, of the total cost of production of milk could on 

 the average be charged to the total labour bill. At that time 

 the average labour bill worked out at £2 10s. Od. per cow during 

 the summer months, and £3 3s. Od. per cow during the winter 

 months, or £5 13s. Od. per cow per year; the weekly labour bill 

 per cow averaged Is. lid. in the summer, 2s. 5d. in the winter, 

 and 2s. od. all the year round, and the average labour bill per 

 gallon of milk corresponded to lfd. during the summer months 

 and 2Jd. during the winter months. 



In the individual herds during that year, the influence of the 

 labour bill upon the cost of milk production varied very consider- 

 ably, from £4 4s. 3d. per cow per year (or Is. 7M. per week) 

 to 610 7s. 9$. per year (or 4s. per week\ and from ljd. to 4d. 

 per gallon of milk produced. 



At that time, as one would naturally expect, the wages of the 

 men varied considerably on different farms, actually from 26s. 

 to 40s. a week, being higher in the vicinity of the coal-mining 

 areas and the manufacturing towns where the competition for 

 labour is keener. Still, this variation in the wages bill per head 

 was not so important a factor in influencing the cost of milk 

 production, as the relative amount of labour employed in attend- 

 ance on the cows, which, unlike wages, is not determined by the 

 geographical position of the farm. 



Thus in Herd during the summer months of 1917 one man 

 was employed quarter time, and a second man was employed 

 one-fifth time in attending to 13 cows : an equivalent of one 

 man fully employed for every 29 cows. 



In Herd L in attending to 36 cows for the corresponding 

 period two men and one boy were employed full time, and one 

 man one-third time : an equivalent of one man fully employed 

 for every 14 cows. 



In a well managed herd, the labour employed should not be 

 greater than an equivalent of one man fully employed for every 

 18-20 cows in the summer and one man fully employed for every 

 12-14 cows in the winter. 



Actually, as will be seen from Table !!. the number of cows 

 attended to by one man varied on the different fauns from 29 

 to 14 during the summer months and from 16 to 10 in the 

 winter months. 



