10 



FARMERS' BULLETIN 929. 



this end use has been made of what is termed an animal unit. An 

 animal unit as here used is a standard unit to which all classes of 

 stock are reduced for means of comparison, and is based upon 

 the amount of feed required by each class of animals when kept 

 under usual farm conditions. It has been found that 1 mature horse 

 or cow, 2 head of young cattle, 7 sheep, or 5 hogs consume in the 

 course of a year approximately the same amounts of feed, hence 

 those numbers 1 for the classes of stock given are taken as constitut- 

 ing one animal unit. 



In the discussion to follow an animal unit of sheep may be thought 

 of as 7 ewes (6 of breeding age and 1 yearling) in addition to their 

 lambs raised to the age of 5 or 6 months. An animal unit of dairy 

 stock in a similar way consists in part of young cattle as well as 

 mature animals, and it is the animal unit of dairy stock rather than 

 a single cow that should be kept in mind in the following pages. 



RECEIPTS FROM THE TWO ENTERPRISES. 



With prices and production as previously given, the average re- 

 ceipts per head of sheep kept (yearlings included) were $4. 78. 2 At 

 this rate, assuming 7 head of sheep equivalent to an animal unit, 

 the receipts per animal unit of sheep under prices and production 

 prior to 1916 were $33.46. The receipts 3 per animal unit of dairy 

 i-tock, on the other hand, were $67.12, not including $8.40, the esti- 

 mated value of unmarketed skim milk which could have been sold 

 at 40 cents per hundred weight, 4 making a total of $75.52. 



1 While the numbers given hold in a general way, adjustment has sometimes to be made 

 to meet the varying breeds and conditions of different regions under which stock is kept. 

 For example, in the case of sheep, where a considerable portion of the lambs' growth is 

 made on feeds other than their mother's milk, requiring extra feeding of either the lambs 

 or ewes, allowance has to be made, in which case, figured on the basis of mature sheep, 

 the number constituting an animal unit would be somewhat less than seven. After hav- 

 ing given this point careful consideration it has been decided that as sheep are kept in 

 New England, most lambs being born in the spring of the year and marketed in the fall, 

 seven ewes (yearlings included), raising what lambs, they may, is the right number to use 

 as constituting one animal unit. 



2 Includes the following : 



Wool, 6.5 pounds at $0.22 $1. 43 



Lamb, 64 per 100 sheep at $4.63 2. 96 



Old ewes and inventory increase , . 39 



Total, per sheep 4. 78 



■ The average production of dairy cows in the regions in which sheep were kept and with 

 which the comparison of profits is made was slightly less than 200 pounds of butter fat, 

 or a little less than 5,000 pounds of 4 per cent milk, i ream and butter constituted by far 

 the most Important classes of dairy products sold, though some whole milk was marketed 

 on a butter-fat basis. Where cream or butter was sold the skim milk was fed on the place 

 nnd an estimate of the value of that fed to stock other than the cattle made as contribut- 

 ing to receipts. About 75 per cent of all receipts from the dairy were derived from the 

 sale of milk, butter, or cream, and the remaining 25 per cent from sales of stock. 

 The average price received for butter fat for the year in question was $0,345. and butter 

 sold at a proportionate price. 



4 The average price paid for skim milk in 1914 by creameries in the localities studied, 

 in addition to that paid for butter fat included when buying whole milk. 



