Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1917-08-31
WHAT DOES 1T COST TO KEEP A
COW?


COW?
One Of the interesting features of
the annual report of the Walla Walla
Valley Cowtesting association is a
tabulation of figures showing the
cast of keeping the average COW in
the valley for one year. The figures
were gathered by the tester, Lee C..
Lewis, and are as accurate as can be
obtained without a complete set of
cost accounts. Records were taken
of 13 herds, comprising 279 cows.
Every expense was taken account Of,
including some that are ordinarily
overlooked by farmers in their fgur-
ing. For instance, a COW will wear
out" in about seven years of lacta-
ton and she must then be sold at a
very low figure for beef or otherwise
disposed of at a sacrifice. This ia a
real source Of expense and to meet it
q certain amount should be charged
against the COW every year so that
when she must be taken from the
herd she will have a fund to her
credit equal to the difference between
her value when she entered the herd
and her value when she left it. This
annual charge is called depreciation
and is figured not only on the COW
but on the barn, silo or other dairy
buildings, dairy machinery, etc., for
these wear out and must be replaced
just as the COW does.
Another item of expense that Is
often wrongly figured is the cost OF
bull service. This will be higher, as
a usual thing, for the cows in a herd
headed by a high priced bull. 1t is
very seldom that q bull can be sold
from a farmers herd at anything like
the price that was paid for him, and
80 the depreciation on a 5000 bull is
considerable, especially as is the case
in one herd, II he heads herd of
only nine cows.
Labor and feed are the chief items
of expense. Feed was figured at cur
rent prices on the amounts that the
cows actually consumed as shown by
the records of the COW testing asso-
citation. Labor was figured at is
cents per hour on the actual number
of hours spent in doing the work Of
the dairy, exclusive Of that spent on
calves. This may seem like low
charge per hour, but men can be OBJ
tanned to work 10 hours per day at
such work the year around for $45,
which makes the labor worth on the
market IS cents per hour.
The average cost per cow In the Is
herds was $76.57. There was range
from $60.97 on q farm where pas
ture is good for eight months and
where the cows are cheap and a
cheap bull is used, to 1914 on
q farm where alfalfa hay Is fed as
almost the entire ration and where
bull service costs over $40 because OF
the high cost Of the animal divided
among only q few cows.
The most striking point Of varia-
ton among the items of expense is III
the cost Of bull service and in labor.
In one herd 1t requires 200 hours per
year per COW, or an annual cost Of
$50 for labor alone, while in another
herd, from which milk Is sold instead
of butterfat, thus avoiding the work
of separating, the work spent on each
COW per year requires only 403 hours.
mourning a cost Of only $15.45.
The average price received for but
terfat by patrons of the Hudson's
Bay COOPERATIVE creamery at UNA
nine, Ore. was 20 cents, while those
who sell whole milk to the Valley
dairy receive q few cents more than
that. Therefore, If a farmer Is SELL
ing butterfat on the open market he
must have q COW that will produce In
one year at least 264 pounds Of but
terfat or he is losing money
some way. either by working for less
than Is cents per hour. using his
money at lower rate OF interest
than s per cent, or by wearing out
his dairy implements and making no
provision for replacing them.
The itemized list Of expenses. aver
aged for the 279 cows, is as follows:
Aver. Mini Maxi
age. mum. mum.
Interest per cow GA 4.0S 1856
Total depreciation