The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-12-22
VERMONT DAIRY
COSTS r GIVEN
Department Of Agriculture Makes Re.
suits Of Investigation Public-Com-
narrative Profits af Cnys

parative Profits of Cows.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 22.-For $50
cows that averaged less than 5000
pounds OF milk annually, the part of the
milk check that represented profit and
reimbursement for the owners manageri-
al ability was % per cent. For PSI cows
averaging more than 5000 pounds an
nually. the per cent remaining for profit
and the owners skill was Al per cent.
For the last five years the dairy tivi-
SION, Emitted States department of agri-
culture. has been making studies which
bear on this problem in many dairy sec
stiohs of the country: and tWo-year in
E~yestiga5ions on the requirements for pro-
ducIng m1lk have now been completed
on groups of dairy fafms IN six Of these
communities. One@0f the latest of these
studies, carried-zOn- in Vermont. is the
Eene aon which the above figures arc
based. Whatti it has disclosed in regard
to economy Of production and the re-
q~uirements for producing milk, may be
of value to the d~airyman who is inter.
ested IN finding out where milk returns
are going.
These figures, which were obtained
from a study of the production records
of 5S7 cows, which remained in the herds
a full year. show that the average annu.
al production of the $50 lower-produc
ing cows was 4,146 pounds :: also that
the average production of 257 higher
I EAOAAA&AA2 KS Viii IVtAi3tt9# d RdI@ All
er subtracting from 4.146 pounds the
amounts of milk required to pay pro
duction costs feed, 1910 pounds OF
milk !; labor. SOC of milk and. other costs
so pounds of milk only go pounds OF
milk remained for the profit and skill OF
the owner. For the high producing
group. however, 3,074 pounds of milk re
manned after the following deductions
had been nDade for feed, 1902 pounds
Of milk labor, 500 pounds of milk and
the other costs 962 pounds of milk.
Here then were cows in the same To-
cality, in some cases STANDING side BY
side, and all requiring about the same
labor vet some were producing three
times as much profit as others, even
though they were charged with greater
quantities of feed and a large amount of
other costs a.
also in that they show that in milk
checks size is not always a true meas
ere of real value: bit that the per cent
Of profit. as determined by the cows that
are kept. plays an important part.
The figures upon which this compar-
ison is based were actual records Of pro
duction feed. labor. and other costs
were obtained by monthly full-day visits
ON each Of the farms for a period of two
years. Careful records, were made on
these visits of the daily milk production
of each COW, feed consumed, labor re-
quired. overhead costs, etc. Using these
data, the requirements for producing 100
pounds of milk were worked out. So
far as possible the requirements were de-
termined in terms of pounds of feed,
hours of labor. etc, 50 that constantly
a~uctuating prices would nave no effect
on the value of the figures. Results may
be interpreted at any time by using pre-
vailing prices.
The requirements for producing 100
pounds of milk. based on SAT cows,
with an average annual production of
5,252 pounds Of 80 per cent milkt were
as follows: