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.3. 



,\Cy.S>l STATE OF MONTANA 



PREFACE 



Products from the soil have been, and will always be, basic to the sustenance 

 of life. People who are capable of taking more from the soil with less effort enjoy 

 a more abundant life. Among other nations, America stands out as a great pro- 

 ducer of goods and has no equal in the capacity to produce food and fiber. Most 

 of this ability has come within the last four decades through education, equipment 

 and facilities and technological developments. A larger volume of raw products 

 can now be taken from the soil with less manpower. This places America's agricul- 

 ture in a much more sensitive position with respect to the Nation's economy. Slight 

 pressures can now be responsible for overproduction or underproduction of goods. 

 Through knowledge of current supplies and needs, production can be kept in balance 

 with consumption. This keeps agriculture on a more even keel and is to the ad- 

 vantage of processors and consumers, as well as the producers of agricultural 

 commodities. 



The Agricultural Estimates Division of the Agricultural Marketing Service, 

 United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for assembling and publish- 

 ing facts on agriculture. Data relating to production, supply and price of com- 

 modities for Montana and the United States are issued frequently in mimeographed 

 form by the agency office in Helena. To accommodate the need for county and 

 district data not available under the Federal program, this bulletin has been pre- 

 pared under a cooperative agreement with the Montana Department of Agriculture. 

 Funds appropriated by the Montana Legislature have made it possible to supply 

 many interested persons, in and outside the State, with more detailed information 

 on Montana's agriculture. 



IN TfflS ISSUE 



Each of the five previous issues of this biennial bulletin have contained county 

 crop and livestock statistics. They have also carried State crop and livestock data 

 and information relating to subjects of special interest. This bulletin is similar to 

 the previous issue in arrangement and coverage of material, and presents a con- 

 tinued series of most data published previously. 



Official crop and livestock estimates are prepared largely from information 

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

 available at the close of the marketing period, such as shipments; market and pro- 

 cessing plant receipts, etc., occasionally justify the revision of estimates. Also, the 

 Census of Agriculture, taken at five-year intervals, serves as a base point for esti- 

 mates and may require revision of data for several previous years. Since some 

 revisions have been made as a result of the 1954 Census, the State data appearing 

 in this bulletin supersede those in previous issues. Contents of this bulletin are 

 as follows: 



Climate Data and Freeze Data, pages 5 and 6, for selected stations provide ap- 

 proximate indications of moisture and temperature patterns. However, the infor- 

 mation for a single station does ont fully reflect the climate for the county in 

 which it is located. 



Cash Receipts, page 7, places the 1955 income for Montana farmers and ranchers 

 at a level below 1954 and several other recent years. Cash values of agricultural 

 products used on farms and ranches are not included. Cash receipts by counties, 

 pages 8 and 9, present a comparison of 1954 and 1955 income and the division of 

 income between crops, livestock and government payments. The number of farms 

 and ranches receiving the income were fewer in 1955. 



Montana Crops and Livestock During 1954 and 1955, pages 10 and 11, sum- 

 marizes factors affecting crop production and livestock marketings. The year 1955 

 goes on record for the universally high yields per acre of both irrigated and dryland 

 crops. 



All Crops, acreage and value of crop production, page 7, points up the im- 

 portance of irrigation to Montana's agriculture. During the decade 1946 to 1955, 

 the value of crops harvested from irrigated land, (18 percent of the total land 



