414 



Cost of Manual Labour in Milk Production. 



[Aug. , 



TUble II. — Variations in Amount and Cost of Manual Labour 

 in Milk Production. 



Herd No. 



Average No. of 

 cows attended to 

 by one man. 



Cost of labour per gal. of milk produced. 



1916-1917. 



1919-1920. 



Summer. 



Winter. 



Summer, j Winter. 



Summer. Winter. 







C 



W 



T 



K 



N 



OA 



I 



L 



S 



<* 



29 

 23 

 21 

 20 

 17 

 17 

 1G 

 15 

 14 

 14 

 14 



16 

 16 

 14 

 14 

 13 

 12 

 12 

 11 

 10 

 10 

 10 



Id. 



ii 



H 



if 

 if 

 if 



2 



2 1 

 2f 



Ifd. 

 2 



2£ 



2f 



3 



3 



3 



3 



31- 



H 



Si 



2d. 4*d. 



3 4f 

 3£ 5 

 3* H 

 3f 6 

 3J 1 6 

 5 7i 

 5| 8| 

 6* l/0f 

 10| j 1/0* 



Average 



18 



12 2 



3 



41 



7 



In 1916-17, when the average wages of a man on the farms 

 " costed " were approximately 35s. a week, the wages bill per 

 cow should rarely have exceeded 2s. per week in the summer 

 or 3s. per week in the winter. In 1919-20 when wages were up 

 to =£3 and in many cases to .£3 10s. Od. per week, the yearly 

 labour bill per cow. if that labour were properly organised, should 

 rarely have exceeded <£12 a year, or 4s. a week during the 

 summer months and 6s. a week during the winter months ; and 

 where cows were giving a normal yield of from 500-550 gallons, 

 the labour bill should not have added to the cost of milk produc- 

 tion more than 4d. a gallon in the summer and 6d. a gallon in 

 the winter, nor should the bill for direct labour have been 

 responsible for more than 20 per cent', of the total cost of milk 

 production. 



In Herd F in the year ending 30th March, 1920, the labour 

 bill per cow amounted to no less than .£23 4s. 8d. per year, or 

 7s. lid. per cow per week during the summer and 10s. Od. per 

 cow per week during the winter months ; and in spite of the fact 

 that the milk yield was particularly high, averaging 755 gallons 

 per cow, the labour bill added 5Jd. per gallon during the summer 

 and 8Jd. per gallon during the winter months to the cost of 

 production of milk. 



Tn Herd D where the milk yield amounted only to 450 gallons 

 per year, and the yearly labour bill per cow was £16 19s. 2d., 

 this labour bill added a cost of 6^d. per gallon in the summer and 

 12fd. per gallon in the winter. 



