PRODUCING MILK IN WESTERN WASHINGTON. 
13 
milking. During the first year six dairies were handled by these pro- 
fessional milkers, and each man had an average of 32.8 cows in his 
" string " which he fed and milked alone. During the second year 
the average " string " consisted of 28.8 cows. 
In two of these dairies the milkers were accustomed to be at the 
barn and ready to start their work at 2 o'clock in the morning. At 
other farms the time for starting work ranged from 2.30 to 4 o'clock. 
The number of cows which a man can care for depends largely 
upon the quantity of milk they are producing, but usually it ranges 
between 18 and 30. A specific instance is known where one man 
milked 42 cows twice daily for a month. The average daily pro- 
duction for a " string " of cows varies from 6 to 10 10-gallon cans 
in winter and from 10 to 14 10-gallon cans in summer. On one farm 
one man, for more than a week, milked 22 10-gallon cans full a day. 
Milking usually starts between 2 and 4 o'clock in the morning 
and the same time in the afternoon. Any work which can be done 
at odd times, such as throwing down feed and mixing grain, is done 
between noon and milking time in the afternoon. Small dairies, 
which do not require all of one man's time, are quite often cared for 
by the owner and his family. 
Only a small percentage of the work was performed by women 
and boys, as shown in Table 6. The women did very little work 
around the barn, confining their efforts to washing utensils, which 
was done in the house. 
OTHER COSTS. 
Other costs include all charges on buildings, equipment, and cattle, 
such as interest, depreciation, upkeep, and repairs. 
Table 7. — Per cent relationship between other costs and capital invested. 
Item. 
Buildings. 
Equipment 
Ca^le. 
To^al. 
$54,647.14 
$17,223.89 
3108,679.00 
$180, 550. 03 
Per cent. 
7.0 
4.5 
1.4 
.2 
3.1 
Per cent. 
7.4 
19.4 
Per cent. 
7.0 
4.4 
} - 
Per cent. 
Taxes. ... 
.9 
.7 
To^al 
16.2 
28.4 
12.3 
15.4 
1 Per cent of capital invested in the various costs. 
BUILDINGS. 
At the beginning of the work the buildings and silos were inven- 
toried at their replacement value in normal times. Interest was 
charged on this value at the rate of 7 per cent. After the first inven- 
tory the subsequent values were determined by deducting from the 
