Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1919-12-26


that farming is get rich quick prop
osition. High priced feed, labor, fer
tilizer, etc, which double and treble
the cost Of producing and marketing
farm products. as a rule receive little
consideration. In general the con-
sumner realizes fully that selling prices
are high, but he has very little knowl-
edge of production costs. This is
readily seen in connection with the
milk market situation throughout the
country.
The Farmers Association is work
ing on the cost of milk production in
Windham county and expects to have
lev figures for publication the lat
| ter part of the winter. Other sections
of the county are doing work on milk
production costs and the figures re-
Gently published by the Michigan Ag-
ricultural College Experiment Station
of East Lansing, Mich, are very time
" Michigan conditions are of course
different from those of Windhsm
county, Conn.
| Producers in that section are, how
ever, nearer the grain market and
their costs will probably run lower
than those of Connecticut. This fact
is evidenced in comparing figures
which have already been taken by the
Farmers Association with the Michi-
gan figures which follow.
| In October, 1918, study of milk
costs was taken up in Macomb county
4 on 25 farms and in May, 1919, work
counties en- % farms all of which con-
I'll -
ply.
/ The Experiment Station employed
a field accountant who took charge of
25 farms 1t was his duty to spend
one full day on each of these farms
evecv O e. hr uyhout the year.
He weighed all the feeds, kept actual
time of the labor spent and also took
into consideration all of the overhead
costs as we'll as the income from the
dairy herd which covers, milk, man.
ure, calves, hides, etc.
The following data gave the items
entering into the cost of milk for win
ter feeding period, (0ct. l6 to May
15).
Cost of producing 100 lbs. of 4 "a
Market Milk in Macomb county for
sc son be ginning Oct. l6, 5iS, and
ending May Is, 1919. Cost includes
delivery to country railway station.
- ~ IS re A~eseutative
farms having a total of 422 cows:
Feeds:
Ground Oats, IT'S lbs, at $40
per ton $685.
Ground Barley, 81 lbs, at s4S
ner ton 90
Bran, II lbs. at $50 per ton .o3
Commercial Feels, 9.5 lbs. at
SCI per ten 20
Hay. 36 lbs. at $24.50 per ton .45
Corn Slower, 1877 lbs. at S13
Bean Pods, 81 lbs. at $3.50
per ton .ol
silage, 2O9.1 lbs. at $3.50 per
Weeks Pasture. Os at $50 per
week Ga
Be3ding, 25.e lbs. at $3.50 per
ton III
LABOR:
Owners or Operators Labor,
1.3 hrs. at S.35 per hour .45
Common Labor, 1.27 hrs at
S25 per hour 80
Horse Labor, Is hours at $.l5
per UCuT W.
Hauling Milk, 1879 hours at
$1.50 per hour .005
Other Costs:
Taxes, Int, ms, and Dep. on
Cattle, $144.6o at $3.50 for
z months .277
Taxes, Int, ms, and Dep. on
Bldes.. S151.60 at 1870 for
months .245
Taxes, Int, ms, and Dep. on
nj gs-e.it Va
Losses due to death .044
Veterinary Services and Drugs OBS
Miscellaneous Costs .042
Renairs .003
Bun Costs .055
For managerial ability and
omitted items add 1919 of
/ ali other costs .40l6
! S4.4198
Credits:
Manure, .125 ton at $500 per
ton 20
Calves 4 DAVIS old LA
Feed Bags 900
S0.364
at receiving station s4.056
Per euart .087
This table gives an itemized cost of
milk production in Macomb county
for one winter feeding period tOet.
i6, 1918 to May Is, 1919 on rs
farms representing Az cows. The
cows in this territory were mostly
grade Jerseys and Holsteins, the milk
averaging 1000 butter fat. As the
years work in this field is not finished
at the time of this writing it is difficult
to determine just what the average
production per COW will be. However,
it is safe to say that it will approx
mately be 5000 pounds. j
This table gives complete list OF
all the items entering into milk costs
with their prices and values. During
this period the average amount Of
feed required to produce 100 pounds
of milk was 32.4 pounds grain, 1851