415 



In Herd Q where a high yearly labour bill per cow of 

 £16 14s. 5d. was accompanied by a low milk yield of only 

 300 gallons per cow, the labour bill added a cost of lOJd. a gallon 

 to the milk in the summer and 12U1. a gallon in the winter. 



A milk producer may, as has already been stated, have to pay 

 relatively high wages for attention to the cows, but where, as 

 in the case of Herds S and G, that labour was not utilised to 

 the best advantage, the management has apparently been at 

 fault somewhere. 



Tn the herds which have been under observation during the 

 last nine or ten years, it has been interesting to note the various 

 more or less successful attempts which have been made by the 

 various owners to solve their special problems in trying to 

 minimise the high labour costs in milk production. 



On Farm B, a North Riding mixed farm of BIS acres (168 

 arable and 150 grass> on which between 50 and 00 milch cows are 

 kept and milk is produced all the year round, the introduction 

 of a Lister milking machine has proved very successful in reduc- 

 ing the direct labour costs of the herd. 



Labour sheets kept on the farm show that in 1014. before the 

 introduction of the milking machine, each cow kept the equivalent 

 of one man fully employed in direct attention 20 days per year. 

 During the year 1920-21. in spite of the shorter hours worked 

 per day, each cow utilised in direct attention the equivalent 

 not of 20 but 28 days' labour of a man. As the wage books show 

 that during last year the wages of the cowmen on the farm 

 averaged 9s. 6d. per day, and as the cows in the herd averaged 

 "505 gallons per head per year, one might be justified in assum- 

 ing that on that particular farm the introduction of a milking 

 machine had resulted in reducing the wages bill in attention to 

 each cow by about 28s. Gd. per year; and in reducing the cost 

 of milk production by rather more than Jd. per gallon. Observa- 

 tions on other farms have led to the conclusion that unless the 

 herd contains at least 40 cows, the reduction effected in the wages 

 bill in attention to the cows has not justified the expense of the 

 installation of the necessary plant. 



On Farm F.W., a mixed farm in the North Riding of just over 

 300 acres (52 per cent, arable, 48 per cent, grass), on which milk 

 production is the dominant feature, the economy of labour has 

 been carefully and scientifically studied. The eldest son of the 

 owner turned his engineering skill and ability to the easing of the 



