and 50 acres of woodland. Present 

 roughage production supports 12 

 cows and 8 young stock. Additional 

 tillage land can be purchased at rea- 

 sonable agricultural value or leased 

 for a period of years. The buildings 

 are adequate for the present small 

 herd. The 35-year-old operator has 

 ability, but has to finance improve- 

 ments partially from current income. 

 The adoption of more efficient chore 

 practices would not increase his in- 

 come immediately. The gross income 

 and cash expenses would be un- 

 changed at first. On the other hand, 

 he is in the midst of potential op- 

 portunities. He has the chance of 

 getting control of and developing 

 sufficient land resources for a 40-cow 

 herd. 



However, he is now quite busy 

 looking after 12 cows. He needs the 

 personal experience of doing chores 

 quickly and easily before he can fully 

 visualize how he can handle a larger 

 herd. If he adopts efficient chore 

 practices along with improved field 

 practices, he will have a greater ap- 

 preciation of possibilities and will 

 be more interested in developing 

 them. While he may be very busy 

 with 12 cows at present, the adop- 

 tion of efficient practicies will give 

 him more time for work on develop- 

 ing his land and barn facilities. In- 

 creased financial returns from adop- 

 tion of efficient practices would be- 

 gin with the increased output from 

 a larger herd. In this case efficient 

 chore practices are an essential part 

 of "know how" which will be needed 

 by the operator in developing a good 

 dairy unit. 



Large and Inefficient- Farms 



This typical farm now carries over 

 50 cows. The operator is interested 

 in cows and is a skilled dairyman and 

 obtains good production which is sold 

 on a special market. However, pres- 

 ent practices require about five men. 



Some chore practices are done quite 

 efficiently; others are time consum- 

 ing. The general work organization 

 is confusing. Men tend to be in each 

 other's way. There is much travel 

 the full length of the barn. Actually 

 there exists under-employment of 

 workers which is not apparent with- 

 out close observation of what the 

 men are doing and how they are 

 working in relation to each other. The 

 larger the herd and the more numer- 

 ous the workers, the more essential 

 is good chore management. 



Incidentally, the economic position 

 of the 10-cow farmer was questioned 

 in previous pages. Is the position of 

 the large dairyman using the labor 

 of 5 men to care for 50 cows any 

 more secure? He has the same ratio 

 of men to cows and usually of men 

 to total output. A large dairyman 

 may be successful because of a spe- 

 cial market and in spite of inefficient 

 chore work. He will benefit imme- 

 diately by adoption of good chore 

 practices and the reduction of hired 

 labor force. 



The Older Operator 



This farm could be developed by 

 aggressive management to carry 30 

 cows, but the 58-year-old operator, 

 because of age and health, has de- 

 cided to continue with a 20-cow herd. 



The adoption of better chore prac- 

 tice can reduce the physical burden 

 of feeding, milking, and cleaning the 

 barn. This should enable him to con- 

 tinue with his present output for sev- 

 eral years without hiring additional 

 help. The outlay of capital for im- 

 provements can be held at a minimum. 

 Yet the farm will be maintained at a 

 level which would eventually interest 

 a younger, more aggressive operator. 



The immediate income would not 

 be increased; the operator, however, 

 would extend his productive earning 

 period. His property would continue 

 to have fair sales value to other oper- 



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