COST OF MILK PRODUCTION OX WISCONSIN FARMS. 
21 
for hogs. Of the 48 farmers reporting, 27 sold whole milk, 12 sold 
to cheese factories and 9 sold cream. 
The computed cost of 100 pounds of milk and the value of the milk 
produced on the farms studied is shown in Table 6. The value of the 
milk fed to calves and of that used by the farm family varies ma- 
terially. Neither value is generally considered of much significance. 
The quantity sold is usually the figure used by farmers when they 
think of quantities at all, except for records of individual cows. In 
this study the quantities sold, fed to calves, and used by the farm 
family were reported separately each month. The proportion of the 
total quantity produced used on the farm varied from about 1-| to 15 
per cent. In the months of lowest production, in a few cases practi- 
cally all of the milk was used on the farm. 
Table 6. — Cost of 100 pounds of milk, and average value of milk produced on J{8 
Wisconsin dairy farms in 1920. 
Group A. 
Group B. 
Group C. 
Group D. 
Group E. 
All farms. 
12 
9,S20 
8 
6,940 
11 
6,700 
8 
6,290 
9 
5,570 
48 
Average production per cow, 
pounds 
7,320 
VALUE OF MILK PRODUCED, 1920. 
Cash sales, per farm 
§2,691.00 
233.00 I 
73.00 1 
j 
$2,690.00 | 
305.00 ! 
73.00 J 
$2,713.00 
222. 00 
64.00 
$1,742.00 
112. 00 
39.00 
$1,343.00 
70.00 
99.00 
$2,281.00 
194.00 
Calf milk.. 
Family supply 
71.00 
Total, at market price. . . 
Average price per 100 pounds . 
• 
2,997.00 
2.33 
3,068.00 [ 
2.38 I 
2,999.00 
3.15 
1,893.00 
3.15 
1,512.00 
2.67 
2,546.00 
2.65 
COMPUTED COST OF 100 POUNDS OF MILK, 1920. 
Feed 
$1.80 
.24 [ 
1.56 : 
.68 . 
.08 
$0. 241 
.12 .41 
.05J 
$2.07 
.32 
$2.19 
.32 
$2.32 
.34 ! 
$1.82 
.28 
i $2. 02 
Manure — credit 
.29 
1.75 
.84 
.14 
$0,311 
.20y.56 
.05J 
1.87 
1.00 
.07 
$0. 301 
.28 .65 
.07j 
1.9S : 
1.39 ! 
.02 i 
$0. 181 
.25>.54 i 
•11J 
1.54 l 
1.21 | 
.18 
$0,241 
.18^.53 I 
-llj 
1 1.73 
Labor at 40 cents per hour 
.94 
.09 
Cow cost 
$0,271 
Building use 
Equipment and general 
.20k 54 
.07j 
Total cost 
2.73 
.02 
3.29 
1.00 
3.59 
.45 
3.93 
.52 
3.46 
.29 i 
3.30 
Claimed depreciation 
.48 
1 This is 8 cents per 100 pounds larger than a strict weighted average. For prices used in computations 
see page 7. 
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS. 
In separating one enterprise for particular study from a number 
of closely related, interdependent enterprises it is necessary to make 
some more or less arbitrary divisions of costs and benefits, to which 
many may take exception. There is opportunity for argument on 
every item of milk cost, especially in the feed and labor items. Com- 
petition is the ruling factor, with farmers bidding against each other 
and consumers paying as little as they are obliged to pay. It is not 
so much a question of what milk costs as of what farmers are willing 
to take for their milk. Just as a long period of rising prices was 
necessary to attract enough milk to glut the market in the fall of 
1920, so a period of low prices will be necessary to discourage the less- 
