540 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



(3) Farm planned as a grain and hay farm, four-year rota- 



tion 1,280 



(4) Farm planned as a sheep farm: 



(a) Pasture system 862 



Cb) Small flock 1,045 



(c) Lamb feeding 2,065 



(5) Farm planned as a hog and clover-seed farm 1,340 



(6) Farm planned as a dairy farm: 



(a) Butter, sold at 25 cents (less extra labor) 1,094 



(b) Milk, sold at 4 cents a quart (less extra labor) . . 1,724 



(c) Milk, sold at 5 cents a quart (less extra labor) . . . 2,334 



An examination of the figures shows the returns for the different types 

 to vary from $450 as now managed to $2,334 per annum in the case of 

 dairy farming, indicating a wide variation in the returns possible from the 

 same farm by different systems of farming. These data emphasize the 

 importance of studying closely the organization of a farm and the plan 

 on which it is operated. If a corn-an-oat rotation of crops brings in but 

 $450 a year and by the use of clover and a little fertilizer the returns can 

 he increased by $600 or $800 without additional machinery or hired help, 

 then a revision of the system of farming would seem worth while. By 

 combining some of the types here considered and by introducing other 

 modifications the returns might be still further increased. 



Generally speaking, grain farming with a rotation of crops and the 

 intelligent use of fertilizers is about as profitable a type of farming as 

 anj'^ of the ordinary forms of stock raising. The following facts, however, 

 should be considered in this connection. The fertilizer bills in the grain 

 and hay types of farming must be indefinitely continued, and as the years 

 go by will probably have to be revised. Quite certainly lime will he needed 

 in addition to the phosphates applied if the yields assumed are main- 

 tained. On the other hand, in the live-stock types of farming, particularly 

 dairy farming, the fertilizer bills will grow less instead of increasing, 

 while at the same time the land will be growing more productive, and in- 

 stead of average yields of 60 bushels of corn and 2 tons of hay per acre 

 considerably larger yietds than these may be confidently expected. 



PLAXS GIVEN NOT MODEL PLANS. 



The plans suggested in this bulletin are neither complete nor are they 

 models to follow. Their purpose is to show primarily that the income from 

 the same farm can be doubled, trehled, or often quadrupled by simply 

 changing the system of farming and dropping the crops or practices that 

 do not pay and substituting for them something that does pay. 



The real purpose of the plans here made in some details is to illustrate 

 various ways of thinking about the farm when the time comes for re- 

 planning it for profit and of ways of going at the problem of estimating 

 the stock that can be kept and the returns that may be expected to re- 

 sult from the adoption of a given type of farming. 



