18 BULLETIN 1144, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
prices are usually paid in December and January ; lowest prices in 
May, June, and July. The 1920 prices did not follow the normal 
course. Instead of going up in the fall they went down. The high 
prices in late summer are partly explained by the success of producers 
in bargaining, with high cost as the basic argument, which distrib- 
utors considered, but following the fall in grain prices, milk prices 
could not be sustained. 
The spread in prices is some inducement to winter production, and 
those who produce in winter receive higher average prices for their 
milk than those who follow the normal practice. But the spread in 
prices is not commonly held to be sufficient to offset the extra cost of 
feeding for winter milk production, above roughing the cows through 
the winter and turning them out all summer where pasture is abun- 
dant. The chief arguments, however, for winter production are that 
the total yield for the year is increased by having the cows freshen 
in the fall, and that there is a better distribution of the farm labor 
over the year. Many who follow this practice say " it is easier to 
produce milk in the winter." There is more time to care for the 
cows, feeding can be controlled more definitely, there is not so much 
milking to do in hot weather and harvest time, and the production of 
cows suffers less from heat, flies and shrinking pastures. With the 
higher producing cows, year-around feeding is necessary, so that the 
time of freshening is not a significant factor in feed consumption. 
There may be some increase in " opportunity cost of feed," by which 
is meant that the farm price of feeds increases from harvest time on, 
and feeds might have been sold at increased prices instead of being fed, 
but the necessary supplies are definitely set aside on a dairy farm for 
the stock and the question of possible sale is disposed of early in the 
season. Purchased feed is also provided for on the same basis. The 
record of 120 cows in the Register of Production, 6 selected without 
regard to any factor other than date of freshening, were examined 
to determine the effect of time of freshening on production and on 
feed supply. The records of the cows freshening in each month of 
the year were taken. There was no significant difference in the aver- 
age production, and very little difference in the character of the feed 
consumed. The fall- fresh cows were fed a little more grain than 
the cows freshening later in the winter, but the April and June fresh 
cows consumed more than the average. Of the 421 cows listed, only 
142 freshened between March 1 and September 1. 
Storage of butter, cheese, condensed milk, milk powder, and ice 
cream materials, tends to keep the winter price of milk below and 
the summer price above the points they would naturally reach with- 
out storage facilities. This is of benefit both to the consumer, who 
can have as much as he desires at all times, and to the producer, who, 
on account of the tendency of production to concentrate in the low 
price months, gets a higher price for his years product. 
Though the cost of milk is higher in winter than in summer, it is 
more nearly uniform than prevalent methods of figuring indicate. 
The tendency to figure cost of feeding dry and nearly-dry cows as 
part of the cost of winter milk is practically unavoidable. It results 
in a cost figure, which would mean a prohibitive price of dairy 
6 Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station Circular 129. 
