COST OF MILK PRODUCTION ON WISCONSIN FARMS. 
13 
no demand for surplus stock, everybody wishing to cut down herds, 
with no purchasers in sight. The changes in values and in number 
of cattle are shown for each of the groups of farms in Table 4. 
Table 4. — Changes in values and numbers of cattle on J/S Wisconsin dairy farms 
during 1920. 
Group 
A. 
Group 
B. 
Group 
c. 
Group 
D. 
Group 
E. 
All 
farms. 
Number of farms 
12 
9,820 
8 11 
8 
6,290 
9 
5,570 
48 
Average production per cow (pounds) 
6,940 
6,700 
7.320 
AVERAGE VALUE OF CATTLE, 1920. 
Cows, Jan. 1 each.. 
Cows, Dec. 31 do 
Cows purchased do 
Cows sold do 
Other cattle, Jan. 1 do 
Other cattle, Dec. 31 do. . . . 
Other cattle purchased do 
Other cattle sold do 
Increase in value of other cattle per farm . . 
$192 
$187 
$170 j 
$95 
$123 
190 
115 
125 | 
65 
120 
193 
108 
159 I 
87 
263 
175 
165 
150 | 
69 
140 
130 
106 
126 ' 
45 
85 
157 
97 
92 | 
37 
93 
286 
66 
89 1 
43 
277 
46 
32 
39 
18 
47 
534 
794 
1694 j 
181 
323 
NIMALS 
(GROUP 
TOTALS) 
1920. 
$165 
130 
195 
150 
104 
100 
208 
Cows, Jan. 1 
Cows, Dec. 31 
Cows bought 
Cows sold 
Heifers brought in . . 
Cows died 
Different cows 
Other cattle, Jan. 1.. 
Other cattle, Dec. 31 
Purchased 
Born 
Sold 
164 
143 
156 
75 
83 
154 
150 
168 
79 
99 
7 
2 
3 
3 
9 
37 
25 
16 
13 
21 
22 
34 
29 
15 
30 
2 
4 
4 
1 
2 
193 
179 
188 
93 
122 
69 
116 
98 
47 
70 
86 
116 
122 
43 
65 
25 
5 
10 
5 
10 
162 
136 
148 
71 
100 
134 
94 
113 
60 
59 
621 
650 
24 
112 
130 
13 
775 
400 
432 
55 
623 
460 
1 Data available for only 10 farms. 
2 Basis is 47 farms. 
The average value of cows of the better herds was practically the 
same at the end of the year as at the beginning. This would perhaps 
lead to the conclusion that there had been no depreciation, which was 
apparently the case in the Sheboygan County herds. In the other 
groups, however, the young cows did not increase in value to the same 
extent, the cows sold did not bring so near their inventory valuations, 
and the valuations at the end of the year were much smaller than at 
the beginning of the year. In figuring the depreciation, the young 
cows added to the herd were appraised at 75 per cent of the average 
value of the cows in the herd at the beginning of the year. The 
charge to the herd on account of heifers is made in order to separate 
the milk production enterprise from the cost and returns on account 
of young stock. The average value of the young cows so added was 
$339 per farm, or $125 per head, which approximates the cost of 
raising a 2-year-old heifer of the quality of the average cows in the 
herds. 
The death risk is rather small, in this case a little more than 2 per 
cent. There is a further appreciable loss, but variable, due to acci- 
dents and culling, where the loss is partial, as in the case of cows sold 
to the butcher or to other dairymen. Even when condemned for 
