20 
BULLETIN 49. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
different groups. There is a marked uniformity as to group totals 
and proportions for the three years. Variations for feed, labor, and 
other costs in the first-year group seem to have been balanced by 
the yariations the second year, thus making the two totals more 
uniform than the totals for either year alone. Milk stands out as 
the largest single item of feed cost, ranging about 30 per cent for 
each group, or practically one-third the total feed cost. Milk and 
concentrates appear only in the first year's feeding period, yet they 
make up nearly 50 per cent of the total feed cost. In raising the 
1910 group the tendency seems to haye been to increase the roughage 
and decrease the grain. However, the change does not in this case 
materially affect the total feed cost per head. 
Table XIII. — Comparison of the cost of raising heifers for tiro years (1908. 
1909, and 1910 groups). 
1908 group. 
1909 group. 
1910 group. 
Item. 
Actual 
cost. 
Per cent. 
Actual 
cost. 
Per cent. 
Actual 
cost. 
Per cent. 
§4.74 
7.89 
16.60 
6.44 
3.73 
12.1 
20 
42.1 
16.3 
9.5 
85.28 
6.33 
16.81 
6.94 
5.39 
12.8 
15.6 
41.3 
17 
13.3 
$7.36 
6.91 
18.40 
4.45 
5.19 
17.4 
16.3 
43.6 
10.5 
12.2 
39.40 
100 
40.69 
100 
42.40 
100 
39.40 
7.86 
12.91 
65.5 
13 
21.5 
40.69 
8.00 
13.37 
65.5 
12.9 
21.6 
42.40 
7.56 
14.91 
65.4 
11.6 
23 
60.17 
8.00 
100 
62.06 
8.00 
100 
64.87 
8.00 
100 
52.17 
6.30 
54.06 
7.00 
56.87 
7.83 
58.47 
61.06 
64.70 
There is a gradual increase in the net cost of production for each 
successive group, but the proportions of feed, labor, and other costs, 
as indicated by the percentages (Table XIII), haye remained prac- 
tically constant. 
The value of the manure for the two years practically offsets the 
expense for labor. On the other hand, the expense for labor and 
other costs combined would not be offset by two and one-half times 
the value of the manure. To get an accurate record of all the labor 
is perhaps the most difficult task for the farmer of all the items that 
must be recorded to determine the cost of producing a dairy cow. It 
would seem from the results on the Brigham farm that the value of 
manure will offset the cost of labor, making it necessary only to keep 
a record of feed and the items that make up the group of other costs. 
The gradual increase of the initial value for the three groups is due 
to a larger number of pure-bred calves. 
