Live Stock Breeders' Association. 235 



FARM MANAGEMENT. 



THE RELATION OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY TO FARM ECONOMY. 



(Frederick B. Mumford, Professor of Animal Husbandry, University of Missouri.) 



A permanently prosperous agriculture is impossible without 

 the large use of domestic animals. The greatest single factor in 

 agriculture as a profitable occupation is the productiveness of the 

 soil. The profitable production of any crop continually on the same 

 area is impossible. At the great Rothamstead Experiment Station 

 in England the continuous production of wheat on the same land 

 for a half century resulted in an average of 13 1-10 bushels per 

 acre. This yield was too small to pay the cost of production and 

 the fixed charges on the land, and then leave a profit. On the same 

 kind of land the application of farm-yard manure resulted in an 

 average yield of 35.7 bushels of wheat per acre for a period of 

 fifty-one years. 



The statements in this article regarding the profitable produc- 

 tion of crops apply only to those systems of farming which are 

 commonly known as general farming, or grain farming. It is not 

 intended that the facts presented in this discussion shall apply 

 to that limited class of agricultural occupations, such as truck 

 farming, floriculture, etc. 



The importance of a high degree of soil productiveness in our 

 farming operations cannot be overestimated. In all farming oper- 

 ations there are certain fixed charges which must be met whether 

 the yield is 20 bushels of corn per acre or 60 bushels on the same 

 acre. The cost of plowing, harrowing, planting and cultivating 

 are practically the same, no matter what the yield. The cost of 

 harvesting is less per bushel if the yield be large. We may say that 

 it requires a certain minimum yield of grain to pay the expense 

 of production. This minimum cost will be about the same, whether 

 the yield is large or small. The excess above this so-called 

 maintenance requirement will represent profit. It is possible 

 for a man to farm land which is so poor that 1,000 acres of 

 it may be required to net him a profit of $1,000. It is equally 

 true that a fertile farm of 160 acres may be so productive as 

 to net its owner $1,000. It is, therefore, not an idle statement 

 that the fertility of the land is the greatest single factor in agricul- 

 ture. 



