Imperial Valley press., 1927-04-08
BY VERN De TAR,
(Earm Advisory

ture Extension service of the Uni
yclsitv Of California and the United
States department OF agriculture
have been stationed in Imperial
county since July, 1916. The Impe,
rial County Farm hurcau was also
organized in 1916. One Of the first
projects undertaken by the cNtcn-
sion service, with the cooperation
Of the Farm Bureau, was the Oh
ganization and operation Of Cow
Testing Association.
At first some difficulty was
found i'll keeping this Cow Testing
Association alive and between 1916
and 1922 it was necessary To rool-
ganize il several times. Since De
ccmbcr. 1922, however. this cow
testing association has operated con.
tinuously and apparently has been
Very successful in helping lis mem
bcr> 10 increase the average produc.
tion of the dairy herds.
In November, 1924, Prof. II. t.
Adams. Of the Division Of Farm
Management, University of Cali
( tornia. spoke at Il COW testing con-
! ference held in Los Angeles on the
subject of "S0me Factors that Al
feet the Cost Of Milk Production -
lie pointed out that cow testing as
Sociations work is incomplete if
the cost Of production Of the milk
and huttcrfat produced is not
known. and that unless higher pro-
duction per COW means a greater
net return to the dairyman no real
good was being accomplished by the
COW testing association.
The extension service staff in
this county was convinced that in
creasing the average production of
Imperial county'> COWS meant also
an increase in the average net re-
turns To Imperial county dairymcn.
1t realized. however. the great val
Ut of accurate knowledge regarding
the cost Of producing dairy products
in the county and was especially in
tereStcd in evidence which would
show the relation between average
buttcrfat production and average
net returns. Therefore when l.. W.
Fiuharty, farm management special
iSt. of the University of California,
devised system Of dairy cost ac
counts, which was quite accurate
an. vet quite easily kept. Imperial
county was one of the first counties
to start using the system.
Small Start Made
In 1925 two Imperial county
dairvmen co-opcratcd with the ex-
tension service and the cow testers
in keeping dairy cost accounts by
this new system. Since only two ac-
counts were completed during that
year no special effort was made t.
summarize the results. as it was felt
that not enough dairymen had CO.
operated to make it possible to So
cure average figures.
In 1926, however. II Of these ac-
lievc that the summary we have
made Of these II accounts gives
some very accurate average figures.
As have already stated, the
method used in keeping these cost
accounts was devised by l.. W. Flu
harty, farm management specialist,
University of California. This
VentOrics made bv the dairvman
with the help of the farm advisor
and the specialist and 4 monthly re-
port filled out by the dairymcn.
with the help of the cow tcster,
showing the money spent on the
dairy, the feed harvested on the
farm for the dairy, and the money
received from the dairy. At the
close Of the year these cost accounts
were assembled at the Farm Advis-
OF 5 office and summarized. Some
of the interesting facts shown by
this summary are as follows:
Number of dairy herds included
in average, II; total number of
cows in these II herds, 403; aver
age number Of cows per herd, 3S.S;
average pounds milk per COW, G113;
aN crage pounds buttcrfat per COW,
272.G.
Feed Cost Per Cow Per Year
Hay S20.ll; concentrates $j.G7;
Silagc. - ll.Gj; pasture $jl.00.
Pounds Feed Per Cow Per Year
Hav 39lj; concentrates 90; sill
age 1912.
Other Factors Per Cow
Labor $4i.sj; total cost $l49.42;
gross income SlJ7.lS; net profit
$1.1d; pounds butterfat per COW
ncccssar,' 70 pay all costs 250.4.
average interest earned on money
invested, per cent, 1913.
While these average figures are
very interesting it is even more in
t"rcsting to compare the results Sc
erred by the various individuals
WhO fcpt accounts. For example:
one dairvman earned an interest on
the money invested of 34.4 per cent
while three dairvmen made less
than wages and earned no interest
on the investment.
Earnings Shown
At the beginning of this article
i: was stated that one reason for
attempting these dairy cost ac.
counts was to determine whether
high average production resulted in
high average returns. 1t is interest
ing to see that four dairvmen own
ed herds which averaged over 300
pounds of butterfat per COW, and
these dairYmcn earned an average
interest on their investment of III