THE COST OF A DAIRY COW.

Otago Witness, Issue 2949, 21 September 1910, Page 7

THE COST OF A DAIRY COW.

AN ESTIMATE BY A DAIRY EXPERT.

Mr W. M. Singleton, one of the Government dairy experts, gives in the Journal of Agriculture a detailed account of how the department arrive at the estimate that the net cost per annum of a dairy cow is approximately £8 if her milk is sent to a butter factory and £9 if it 's sent to » cheese factory. He writes:

The annual cost of keeping a tow is a vital question to every dairy farmer, and is a 6ubject which the yield-testing 1 of dairy oows causes the owner to consider more carefully. Believing that this subject may be treated more minutely than has yet b2on done to my knowledge in New Zealand, the following- itemised estimate of the. annual cost of keeping a cow has been prepared: Labour: One man, 20 cows; salary, £2, including' board: ten-months period, £BS for 20 cows. For one cow £4 6 0 Interest on shed worth £5 per bail-; one bail suffices three cows; interest, 6s. One. cow . £0 2 0 Taxes per cow, 2£ acres at 2s 9d 0 7 0 Depreciation, repairs to shed and yard, per cow ... 0 2 0 0 11 0 Service fee— Interest on bull worth £3O at 6 per cent. ... £1 16 0 Depreciation on bull ... 4-0 0 Grass (£75 worth land . at 6 per cent.) ... 4 10 0 Extra winteir feed ... 0 16 0 ■ Taxes on bull paddeck 0 7 0 £ll 9 0 Less manure ... 210 0 Net for 30 oows ... £8 19 0 Per cow 0 6 0 Interest and depreciation on cow, value £9; interest at 6 per cent., 10s lOd; depreciation, 10s per oow 1 0 1G Interest and depreciation on tinware 0 1 0 FeedInterest on £75 invested in land at 6 .per cent 4 10 0 Extra winter feed 0 15 0 Interest on cart valued at £2l, horse £2O, harness jgg Total £SO. at 6 per cent, per annum . ..£3 0 0 Depreciation, repairs on cart .. 2 0 0 Depreciation, repairs en harness 1 10 0 Depreciation en horsa 2 0 0 Horse-shoeing 2 0 0 Total for 30 cows... £lO 10 0 For one cow 0 7 C Loss in herd by deaths, averaging 7 per cent. C 12 6 Artificial fertiliser to maintain pasture 0 5 0 Depreciation of fences 0 5 0 Total £l2 18 0 Credits. Cheese cow Whey £1 0 0 Calf 0 6 0 Manure 2 10 0 £3 16 0 Butter cow—- . Skim milk 2 0 0 Calf ... .„ 0 6 0 Manure ■ 2 10 0 £4 16 0 Before cows start producing profit as dairy cows on this basis— Cow supplying cheese factory must produce £l2 18s 6d, Ices £3 16s. or" £9 2s 6d; cow faiipplvinjj butter factory must produce. £l2 I*B* 6d, less £4 lfe or £8 2s .fed ;or, *ay, £9 and £3 respectively. As Mr Singleton points out, these compilations can only be regarded as a guide, but they will probably he found to be very near the mark in most cases.