

STATE OF MONTANA 



PREFACE 



Agriculture is America's greatest industry and has more bearing on human 

 lives, directly and indirectly, than any other endeavor. Farm population con- 

 tinues to decrease but many persons who leave the farm become engaged in 

 activities closely associated with agriculture. Farms and ranches are increas- 

 ing in size and decreasing in number but they are producing more food and 

 fiber. The larger output by fewer farm workers has been accomplished prin- 

 cipally through improved practices and tools. Federal and State Departments 

 of Agriculture and many private agencies serve farms and ranches with the 

 ways and means for more productive and efficient operations. The assembly 

 and distribution of agricultural statistics is one of the many governmental 

 services used in promoting this great industry. 



The Agricultural Estimates Branch of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics 

 is the principal fact finding agency of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. It is charged with the preparation and publication of information re- 

 lating to crop acreages, yield, production, disposition, price and values and 

 livestock numbers, production, disposition, price and values. These data are 

 released to the public in mimeographed form showing "state" and national 

 figures. By means of a co-operative agreement with the Montana Department 

 of Agriculture and funds appropriated by the thirty-second session of the 

 Montana Legislature, it has been possible to prepare the "county" and "dis- 

 trict" data in this bulletin. This fourth volume of Montana Agricultural Statistics 

 will receive wide distribution to parties in and outside the state who have re- 

 quested such information and have found the bulletins to be handy reference 

 guides. 



Contents of Bulletin 



This bulletin features county crop and livestock statistics and contains de- 

 tailed state data of a short-time series. The first issue of Montana Agricultural 

 Statistics, December 1946, carried a long-time series of state information dating 

 from the 1870's to 1945. Subsequent bulletins, published biennially, have pre- 

 sented similar state data for earlier years and county data for the two years 

 immediately preceding the date of publication. 



Official crop and livestock estimates are prepared largely from information 

 collected on a sample basis from farm and ranch operators by mail. Record 

 data which becomes available at the close of the marketing period, such as 

 shipments, market receipts, processing plants receipts, etc., often justify re- 

 visions of estimates prepared earlier. Furthermore, the Census of Agriculture, 

 which is taken every five years, serves as base points for the estimates and 

 usually requires revisions of some data for several previous years. Census 

 data covering crops harvested in 1949 and livestock numbers in 1950 have been 

 available during the past eighteen months during which time crop and live- 

 stock revisions have been made, where necessary, for the years 1944 to 1951. 

 Consequently, the state data appearing in this bulletin supersede those which 

 appear in previous issues. Contents of this bulletin are as follows: 



Climate Data, page 6, show a wide variation of precipitation and number of 

 frost free days between selected county stations. The information for any 

 station is only an approximate indication of the moisture and weather pattern 

 for the county in which the station is located. 



Cosh Receipts and Farm Commodity Prices, page 7, reflect a marked in- 

 crease in the agricultural income of recent years. Cash values of agricultural 



