22 
BULLETIN 858, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table 13. — Per cent and hours of labor performed by each class of help in the production 
of 100 pounds of milk. 
WINTER. 
Class of labor. 
Managers. . . 
Hired men. 
Total man labor. 
Women 
Boys and girls 
Total. 
Distribution of work per- 
formed. 
1915-16. 
Per cent. 
39.9 
49.4 
<<>. 3 
8.2 
2.5 
1916-17. 
Per cent. 
47.2 
33.0 
80.2 
14.2 
5.6 
100.0 
Average. 
Per cent. 
43.5 
41.2 
84.7 
11.2 
4.1 
100.0 
Labor per 100 pounds milk. 
1915-16. 
Hours. 
1.05 
1.30 
1916-17. 
Hours. 
1.17 
.81 
2.35 
.22 
.07 
2.64 
1.97 
.35 
.14 
2.47 
Average. 
Hours. 
1.12 
1.03 
1.15 
.29 
.11 
2.55 
SUMMER. 
40.2 
43.6 
42.6 
35.0 
41.4 
39.3 
0.88 
.95 
0.93 
.77 
0.91 
85 
Total man labor 
83.8 
13.0 
3.2 
77.6 
13.4 
9.0 
80.7 
13.2 
6.1 
1.83 
.28 
.07 
1.70 
.29 
.20 
1.76 
29 
Boys and girls 
14 
TotaL 
100.0 
100.0 
100.0 
2.18 
2.19 
2.19 
During the first winter studied, as shown in Table 13, the managers 
did 39.9 per cent of the dairy work, and the hired men performed 
49.4 per cent of it. The remaining 10.7 per cent was done mostly 
by the women. A comparative study of the percentage of labor 
performed by each class of help for each season shows how the labor 
of the manager and his family replaced that of the hired help which 
was attracted to industrial plants by higher wages. The women 
limited their efforts for the most part to milking and to washing 
utensils, and actual observation showed that in these operations they 
were just as efficient as the men or even more so. 
OVERHEAD AND OTHER COSTS. 
HERD. 
A pound of milk from a purebred cow was worth no more than 
from a grade cow. Purebred cows were inventoried at fair prices for 
grade animals of similar producing ability, and the purebred calves 
were given corresponding grade values. This method eliminated both 
the higher overhead charge on cattle and the larger credit for the 
purebred value of calves. 
Each herd was inventoried the first month, and interest at the rate 
of 6 per cent was computed on the value of the cows and bulls at that 
time. An account was kept of all animals coming in or going out 
of the herd and what they were worth at that time. Losses due to 
death in the herd were accounted for in the difference between the 
inventories. At the end of the year another inventory was taken 
