12 



Cost of Butter Production. 



[APRIL, 



For the purpose of this investigation, the market value of 

 home-grown produce has been disregarded (with the exception 

 of cereals), the estimated cost of production alone being taken 

 into account as follows : — 



Hay . . . . . . . . . . £j per ton. 



Straw . . . . . . . . . . 505. ,, 



Roots . . . . . . . . . . 27s. 



Home-grown cereals at two-thirds of their market value and 

 purchased concentrated foods at market value. 



Labour has been based on the current local rate of wages. 



No manurial value has been taken into account, because 

 almost all foods were found to be home-grown. 



The value of calves is almost exactly off-set by the cost of 

 repairs, miscellaneous items, and delivery charges, and for 

 this reason these items are not taken into account in the 

 accompanying table. The value of grazing in cases where the 

 cows were obtaining enough grass to effect a decrease in the 

 ration fed was taken at 2d. per cow for the week, an estimate 

 based on an annual rental of 50s. per acre per annum. 



Depreciation has been estimated at the rate of £5 per cow 

 per annum, to cover losses by death and disease and the 

 difference between the purchase and sale price of animals 

 bred or brought into the herd annually in order to maintain 

 it. In the case of farm C no depreciation has been allowed, 

 as pedigree stock is bred on this farm and enhanced 

 prices are obtained for calves and for animals sold from 

 the herd. 



The average percentage of butter-fat content was 4*6 per cent., 

 an unusually high percentage, due to the breed of cattle. As 

 butter contains about 86 per cent, of butter fat, 2 gal. 

 of this milk is converted into slightly more than 1 lb. of butter 

 and slightly less than 2 gal. of skimmed milk. As there 

 is a local market for skimmed milk at 6d. per gal., an allowance 

 for this by-product has been made at this rate. 



The proportion of dry cows to those in milk is unusually 

 high, being 123 dry to 103 in milk. This is no doubt due to 

 the natural desire of the farmers to produce butter during the 

 summer when the cost of production is comparatively low, 

 rather than during the winter, when the cost is high. This 

 low proportion of cows in milk materially increases the cost 

 of production above what it would cost in winter were the 

 same proportion of cows in milk to those dry to be maintained 

 during the winter and summer periods alike. 



